Paul de Gelder is an author, motivational speaker, professional shark diver, and shark attack survivor. He joins Cheddar News amid Discovery's Shark Week to talk about bull sharks and his journey to becoming an advocate. 

Between Bells

Professional Shark Diver Paul de Gelder Talks All Things Shark Week 

Welcome back to Between Bells. Now Summer's most anticipated programming event is finally here. Yes, we're talking about Discovery Channel's Shark week back again all week long now this year, Dwayne the rock johnson serves as it's first master of ceremonies, fans can expect 25 adrenaline inducing original hours that delivered. Never before seen footage of walking sharks and odds firing encounters. So take a look. I'm opening the cage doors in case we need to make a hasty retreat. It's now moved above us. We're getting circled, mate going on there. Oh man, I sat down with paul de gelder. Doesn't that make you nervous? He's a navy diver, Shark attack survivor author and an incredible motivational speaker. We talk all things Shark week, you're gonna love this. Take a look at this. So your episode raging bulls just premiered on Discovery just the other day. And you take a closer look at sort of the shift that we're having right now with bull sharks, which I know we're going to talk a little bit about bull sharks and you're sort of history with them, but dive into why you wanted to sort of highlight this here. Well that area specifically in Australia is called the Gold Coast and have a lot of canals and we know that bull sharks can exist in freshwater and brackish water, which is where the salt and the fresh meat and they're also along the coast as well. And so the the negative interactions with people and bull sharks were kind of on the rise. So we wanted to look at why how we can keep people safe. And also how we can keep the bull sharks safe as well, because there's such an important part of the ecosystem. So there was only one way to do that. We have to go into the canals, go into the river systems, go into the beaches, go diving straight in there and find out what's going on. So what is contributing to sort of this shift in behavior right now that we're seeing in bull sharks? Or have they always been like this? I feel like they've always been like this. The fact is we have such great technological advancements. Now, everyone has a camera on their phone and so you can record it, you can see it like we're getting better reporting on where the sharks are, what they're doing. Um but also you gotta think about what we're doing to the ocean and the extent commercial fishing is having on the fish stocks. So maybe the sharks are just looking for food. So they're coming in closer to where we go, because that's where the life is. The fishermen are fish offshore, so they know how to get an easy feed. So like that actually leads really well to my next question, because you're also an accomplished author, in addition to all the great stuff you do with Discovery. Your book is called shark, why we need to save the world's most misunderstood predator. I don't think a lot of people understand or maybe maybe we are misunderstood that they are endangered here. Is that essentially what you're saying that these sharks are endangered? Many species are, and the fact is we've wiped out 70 to 90% of all large Fish just in the last 50 years. And so these sharks are instrumental in keeping all the ecosystems healthy. They prey on the fish that might over exploding population, decimating coral reefs and then that, you know, that's the life system of those areas. So wipe out the coral reefs to wipe out the whole life system eventually that ripples down onto us. So we're not just saving sharks were trying to save us as well. And so what else do you feel like we maybe our misunderstanding about sharks that you wanted to write this book about it being such a misunderstood animal. I just wanted to share some of the amazing stories and experiences that I've had with sharks to shift that perception that there are these vicious man eating predators, waiting to snatch your baby's right. Some media programs will say, and, you know, they're on the front page of the newspaper whenever they happened. But the fact is, it's so rare and everyone's terrified of sharks. And I was as well. My greatest fears were sharks. And public speaking. And now I'm literally, yes, you're doing it. And it's just so interesting that you say this because I mean for our viewers who see you, you've you've been bitten by one of these sharks, your you've lost your arm and your leg from this as well. And so why do you sort of feel like and and you you still love these creatures who still are fascinated by these creatures. Most of us would completely run away from that. If something like this had happened to us, why are you so fascinated by them still? Well, I feel like there's a really powerful message in that as well. If I can, after what I went through, I can change my perception through getting knowledge about sharks. Then no one else has an excuse. You have to learn. Like that was the lead up to me wanting to protect sharks. I didn't really care about them. I just thought if we killed them all then awesome, we don't have to worry about them. But then you start doing the research and find out how many sharks are being killed by humans compared to how many sharks, how many sharks we kill. And so it just blew my mind the disparity between what our imagination does to us. A very powerful. Sure, and what the reality is. Well, why do you think is that they were so terrified of them? Is it because we see in film, television, media consumption that these are killer sharks, we see people who have lost limbs of it. Why do you think they are such a psychologically scare? Well, partially the media, but also I think we have an internal survival instinct of not being eaten alive. Trust me, it's not fun, It hurts a bit. And so we just it's a it's a survival instinct. It's not our environment as well. So we're like an alien in that environment with this efficient predator that can move faster than us, it's stronger than us and it's designed to hunt. And so it doesn't help that there's a terrible pr client. We go on shark week, we say how amazing they are and we go diving with them and trying to save them, then all of a sudden they go out to new york and bite someone. So what should people do to sort of protect themselves against shark attacks? It seems just based off of reporting out there. We've seen an uptick in shark attacks. There was one just recently, right here in Long Island here in new york. So how should people stay safe against a potential shark attack? As the age old saying goes, knowledge is power. So we have the wealth of the world's knowledge in a few keystrokes. We got this incredible thing called the internet. We can google, you can find out if there's been any negative shark interactions in the area you're planning to go to recently in the history. So build your knowledge on the subject on the area if there's been sharks swimming around, having a little nibble on people, maybe just don't go in the water. Okay, okay, it's all about knowledge, respect the sharks, that's their home. Maybe go somewhere else where there isn't any sharks. Okay. Okay. Good to know. Okay. You mentioned, which is still so incredible to think about your two biggest fears that you had where sharks and motivational speaking and now you've conquered both of them, which I think for people watching this gives them any sort of excitement that they could do anything in their life. What advice do you have for people out there to sort of conquer their fears and really go after these things? Never let fear get in the way of your dreams because fear is created. Fear is there to help us survive. But you shouldn't be afraid of growing. Don't be afraid of change because that's where we thrive when we're uncomfortable when we're under the pump, when we're facing change and challenge. That's where we become the people we're supposed to be so embrace that learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable because then you'll find out who you really are