Michael Rutzen (born 11 October 1970)[1] is a South African conservationist, film maker, and cage diving operator.[2]
Since the beginning of his career as a conservationist, Rutzen has provided field support to the Department of Environmental Affairs of South Africa.[3] Some of his projects include the deployment of satellite and acoustic tags on great white sharks.[4] He is also a member of the Whale Disentanglement Network[5] for the Department of Environmental Affairs, a group of marine experts who assist whales in distress.
Rutzen was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, as the youngest of five children. He is the son of Richard Harvey Rutzen, an Evangelist in the New Apostolic Church, of Austrian descent and Marie Rutzen[6] (née Stydom), of Afrikaans descent. He has two older sisters and two older brothers, one of whom is 20 years older than Mike.
Due to lung complications from his premature birth, Rutzen's father moved the family from the city to the small farming town of Brits in The Northern Transvaal[7] when Mike was 5 years old, allowing him and his older brother to benefit from the fresh country air. As the youngest in his family by many years, Mike spent a lot of his childhood alone, exploring the natural bush and the granite hills of the region surrounding the farm. There he learned important skills in bush survival and the understanding of animal behavior, particularly of snakes, baboons and leopards.
At the age of 7, he started going to sea on his aunt's boat at Tugela River Mouth, where he learned to fish and developed a deep love for the ocean.
After high school, Rutzen enlisted in the South African Defence Force (SADF) as a medic in the 115 Battalion. He spent two years in the bush where he further honed his survival skills. At the age of 20, he became a commercial fisherman in the fishing village of Gansbaai in the Western Cape. In 1993, the shark cage diving industry was established in the area and Mike was the second local skipper to be employed for his specialized seafaring expertise. He spent a lot of time interacting with great white sharks from the boat and observing their behaviour during this time.[8]
During this time, Rutzen developed a huge appreciation for these sharks and decided he would like to learn more about the species. In 1998, he began free diving with sharks. In 2000, he established the shark cage diving company, Shark Diving Unlimited.
While in the water with the sharks, Rutzen used his knowledge of animal behaviour to understand the shark's movements and to cautiously interact with them. He was able to communicate with the sharks by making his body smaller or larger to attract or deter the animal.
Since 2009, he has acted as field supervisor for population dynamics studies and DNA sampling programs being undertaken for the Ph.D. study of Dr. Sara Andreotti (Stellenbosch University),[9] where he sponsored and co-authored a number of white shark behavioural papers.[10] [11] One study identified that South African white sharks all belong to one population, with the same sharks sampled on the east coast (Algoa Bay) being identified in the south west coast (False Bay), which holds several implications for population management.[12] It also established that these sharks have extremely low genetic diversity, putting their long-term survival at risk. Specifically, 89% of South African white sharks share a common mitochondrial lineage and have low mitochondrial diversity relative to some white shark populations, which could lead to extinction.[13]
Rutzen is one of the inventors of the Shark Safe Barrier, which prevents negative encounters between sharks and people. The barrier was conceived in 2011 when Rutzen met Dr. Craig O'Connell, a marine biologist. Rutzen had noticed that sharks did not swim through the local kelp forests, even when pursuing cape fur seals. This inspired the idea of a visual barrier resembling kelp which could potentially become the first eco-friendly alternative to the shark nets. O'Connell, who was working on his PhD project exploring the use of electrosensory stimuli—such as permanent magnets—to repel sharks, had achieved much success, prompting the two to join forces.[14]
The Sharksafe Barrier is made of four rows of large vertical pipes,[15] each fitted with magnets that move with the ocean currents and tides to manipulate the swim patterns of sharks. These magnets overstimulate the unique electrosensory system of Elasmobranchs (i.e. sharks, skates, and rays), known as the Ampullae of Lorenzini, which detect electromagnetic fields. These are associated with hunting prey and may also be capable of detecting geomagnetic fields (0.25-0.65 Gauss) to orientate the sharks during long migrations. This makes the Sharksafe Barrier shark-specific so other marine animals can swim through it without issue.
The Sharksafe Barrier is currently undergoing final scientific and engineering testing ahead of its first beach deployment.
Rutzen's first documentary, National Geographic's Beyond Fear was released in 2005. It described shark behaviour and body language and showed Rutzen free diving with great white sharks without a cage. The film was shown internationally on National Geographic Channel and was viewed by more than 300 million people.[16]
This documentary was followed in 2006 by "Sharks: Man-Eaters or Misunderstood?",[17] a John McIntyre production in association with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, Sport Diver, and Shark Diving Unlimited, to educate workers at Blue Planet Aquarium.
In 2007, Rutzen's Discovery documentary "Sharkman"[18] was aired. Rutzen developed the storyline by visiting notable shark experts in their fields. He learned one form of tonic immobility from Dr. Samuel Gruber and another from Christina Zenato, a behaviour which would lead him to the initial idea for the Sharksafe Barrier later on.[19] [20]
Sharkman became the Discovery Channel
Rutzen was featured as a shark expert in the IMAX 3D film, Great White Shark 3D (2010)[23] which was filmed in his hometown of Gansbaai and featured both underwater and aerial footage. The film was screened in IMAX theatres internationally.
Also in 2010, Rutzen acted as stunt double and shark behaviour expert for Halle Berry's character in the Warner Brothers film Dark Tide, which was filmed in Gansbaai and based loosely on Rutzen's life experiences.[24] Rutzen was also featured as the 'Sharkmaster' on Stan Lee's Superhumans, which investigated and proved his claims that he could indeed interact and communicate with great white sharks using body language.[25]
In a 2012 interview, Rutzen noted that they "were not the mindless killing machines out to hunt us" as portrayed in horror films.[26] He was featured in Linge De Fronte (French TV) "Alerte aux requin" (2013).[27]
On 13 May 2017, he was part of the team that broke the Guinness World Records title for the 'Longest Underwater Live Radio Broadcast' in the Atlantis Ambassador Lagoon aquarium.[28]
Rutzen currently lives in Gansbaai, South Africa and Tofino Beach in Mozambique[29] with his two Mozambican beach dogs, wife, and daughter.[30]
Rutzen won a Lifetime achievement award at the Tourfilm Festival Prague (2012) for his contribution to extending human boundaries with respect to the world's oceans and his pioneering work with sharks. The festival organisers stated, "It is our humble opinion that your work is reducing man's innate fear of the marine environment."[31] He was also awarded Princeton Global Network Registry Member of the Year (2012),[32] the Mare Nordest – Adriatico! Un mare d'idee e non solo, Trieste (2012)[33] and the Mayoral's Award for Conservation - Overstrand District South Africa (2015).[34]
| Title | Publication | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| An Integrated Mark Recapture and Genetic Approachto Estimate the Population Size of White Sharks in Africa[35] | Marine Ecology Series | June 2016 | |
| New Insights Into The Evolutionary White Sharks, Carcharodon Carcharias[36] | Journey of Biogeography | October 2015 | |
| Risks and advantages of using surface laser photogrammetry on free-ranging marine organisms: A case study on white sharks Carcharodon carcharias[37] | Journal of Fish Biology | April 2015 | |
| Effects of the Sharksafe barrier on white shark (Carcharodon carcharias)behavior and its implications for future conservation technologies[38] | Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology | November 2014 | |
| A novel categorisation system to organise a large photo identification database for white sharks Carcharodon carcharias[39] | African Journal of Marine Science | April 2014 | |
| The use of permanent magnets to reduce elasmobranch encounter with a simulated beach net. 2. The great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias)[40] | Ocean and Coastal Management | November 2012 |
Rutzen regularly delivers marine conservation and scientific talks to promote the preservation of the Great White Shark internationally. He often shares his views on responsible shark management, conservation and the threats to the ocean, as well as the findings of his scientific field research on the great white shark.[41]
| Where | About | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art Cafe - Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa[42] | Scientific research | 17 August 2016 | |
| Mensa Annual Meeting, Helderberg, South Africa | Scientific research | 18 August 2016 | |
| Wild Card - Cape Union Mart, Cape Town, South Africa[43] | Conservation of the Great White Shark | 24 August 2016 | |
| Rotary Club of Stellenbosch, South Africa | Understanding The Great White | 28 March 2017[44] | |
| One&Only Cape Town, South Africa | Understanding The Great White | 25 May 2017[45] | |
| Helderberg Sunrise Rotary Club, Western Cape, South Africa | The Great White Shark | 6 December 2017 | |
| Man In Extreme Environment, Trondheim, Norway | The Great White Shark | 15 December 2017[46] |