Shark Week is returning to Discovery with a series of new nature documentaries like Great White Serial Killer: Sea of Blood and Sydney Harbor Shark Invasion. Each of those specials dives into deadly shark attacks that are frighteningly recent, and which take place across the globe. As revealed in the title, Sydney Harbor Shark Invasion explores recent attacks and an uptick in shark populations in the seas next to Sydney, Australia, and Great White Serial Killer: Sea of Blood details grisly shark attacks in the Mexican fishing town of Yavaros.

The host of both specials (and other Shark Week programming) is Paul de Gelder, an Australian Army and Navy veteran who lost his leg and part of an arm to a shark attack in 2009. De Gelder brings compassion to his nature documentary work, emphasizing both with survivors of shark attacks and the sharks themselves. Despite his own experience, de Gelder is passionate about keeping sharks—and the humans who fish, swim, and otherwise spend time in their habitats—safe.

Paul de Gelder spoke with Screen Rant about his work on both shark documentaries. In that conversation, he revealed how his own journey as a shark attack survivor affected his work on the specials, and how it felt to revisit the site of his attack in Sydney Harbor Shark Invasion. De Gelder also detailed the importance of exploring ways that humans and sharks can coexist and shared his hopes for how prospective swimmers can approach swimming in the ocean.

Paul De Gelder Details His Journey From Shark Attack Survivor To Shark Week Host

Screen Rant: You’re leading two shows about shark attacks this year. I know you have your own history with this, but what makes you want to lean into these stories in such a public way?

Paul de Gelder: I think it’s beneficial having come from that scenario, with the ability to understand and be compassionate about it. People that I talk to that have either been involved in shark attacks or are part of a family or friendship group that have, understand that I know firsthand what it’s like. Oftentimes they’re more willing to open up to me, as opposed to some random person that wants to ask them.

Was it hard for you to find that compassion? I don’t know how common that is among people who have been through what you’ve been through.

Paul de Gelder: Yeah, it was. Having been in the military for so long, you get trained to bury that compassion down. You become an autonomous, “complete the mission” sort of person, and that’s it. Nothing on either side exists—just the mission. It was really hard, for a long time, to try and find that connection to my emotions, and to find compassion for the sharks and even for people. I’m like, “I’ve got my own problems to worry about. Why should I have to deal with it? I’ve got a prosthetic leg and a prosthetic hand, I nearly lost my career, I nearly lost my whole life. I need to focus on me.”

But the most wonderful thing I found is that when you take the focus off of yourself and you put it onto other people and try to help them, you actually feel way, way better than when you’re just trying to make yourself feel better. And then you’ve got two people that feel good. It was a long journey to find that compassion and the ability to look through the eyes of the shark and look through the eyes of other people but, since I’ve been able to do that, my life has gotten exponentially better.

Great White Serial Killer Is A Compassionate Look At A Fishing Town And Shark Survival

I love that Great White Serial Killer is about you trying to help a specific community. How did that whole show come together? It seems like you all were down there pretty quickly after the most recent attack happened.

Paul de Gelder: The attacks had been happening for the previous few years, so this was a story that was going to get made. Then, a shark attack happened while we were in the planning process. That’s why it seems like it was so close. We weren’t mobilized to go down straight after—a shark attack actually happened during the planning to make the show. It became even more poignant.

One of the most impactful moments in watching that was when you all spoke to the man whose co-worker was attacked. How is it to have conversations with people like that and have empathy for them and the sharks at the same time?

Paul de Gelder: When we were standing around talking to him in his doorway, he was speaking Spanish, and we could not understand him. I could pick up a word here or there, but the emotion with which he spoke resonated to the point where you could almost understand exactly what he was saying. That’s how powerful it was.

Once we got the translation and heard what he actually said, it was hard. They see it very different than the way we see it. They see it as, “This is a monster. They’re creating orphans. They’re killing everyone. They want to eat us,” whereas we’re trying to say, “No, look, this is a part of the ecosystem. You can’t kill them.” And we were trying to get them to understand that if you kill this shark, it might not make any difference. Another shark might come in and kill another person next year, and then you’ve still got the problem.

So, [we said], “Why don’t we work toward a solution that keeps everyone safe?” But [with fishing] being such an integral part of the way that their community makes a living, they want to feel safe, they want to feel protected, and the easiest way is just to kill sharks. It was a bit of an emotional and rational struggle.

Do you feel like you have an idea of what the right balance is between protecting people and wildlife at the same time?

Paul de Gelder: We consider ourselves to be the most advanced species on Earth. We’ve got these big brains, and we can create tools and spaceships and all that sort of stuff. Surely, we can create tools to keep us safe in the ocean from this one animal. If we use something as simple as a one-man cage, which has been used for decades down in New Zealand and Australia to keep the diverse safe, why couldn’t it be used in the Sea of Cortez? Pretty simple.

I think that it comes down to trying to be understanding enough to want to put those implementations into practice as opposed to just killing things. Every time that we try and change nature to suit ourselves, nature pushes back. If we remove sharks from the ocean, then other populations of fish are going to explode, which means they’re going to decimate the populations underneath them, which creates a ripple effect, and then we’ve destroyed the whole ecosystem. Letting nature have its own balance, respecting that, and allowing that to thrive, is going to mean that we actually get to live.

Sydney Harbor Shark Invasion Investigates Shark Populations In Sydney Harbor… While Returning To The Scene Of De Gelder’s 2009 Attack

In Sydney Harbor Shark Invasion, you’re returning to the site of your own attack, which was in 2009. What made you want to do that, and how did it feel?

Paul de Gelder: I didn’t really [Laughs]. It’s not something I ever thought that I’d be doing. I did have to go back and dive in the harbor a couple of times when I was with the Navy, but not in the same spot where I was attacked—not actively going to spots where bull sharks had been tracked, and not trying to bring the bull sharks in, in water where you can barely see a couple of feet in front of you. That is very scary stuff. I’ve got bait with me as well.

But it was important. I’m never one to steer away from a challenge or something that scares me. I believe that we should face the things that are the scariest, because more often than not, we do that, and we realize that they were never that scary to begin with. Diving in murky water with bull sharks is not testament to that. I would highly not recommend doing that. But it’s Shark Week. This is what we do.

How did you feel after?

Paul de Gelder: I felt happy that I was still alive. The show isn’t about me going back there. That’s a part of it—showing the emotion and fear and trepidation is part of it—but it’s more of an ecological story where we’re trying to find out if the warming ocean currents and climate change are affecting the bull sharks’ ability to migrate out of Sydney Harbor, hence keeping them in the harbor longer and becoming more dangerous to humans.

There was an attack, once again, as with Yavaros… Maybe I’m the magnet. While we were deploying, there was actually a shark bite in Sydney Harbor, and it was the first one since mine. So, it was an in-depth look into why this might be happening. Are the bull sharks hanging around longer? What do we need to do to keep people safe? That’s something that falls into my realm, very deeply—trying to keep people safe, but also understanding that the sharks have a purpose, and that we need to keep them safe as well.

Should You Go Swimming This Summer? Yes, But “Stay Informed”

Shark Week airs as many people go to the beach and want to swim in the ocean. What would you say to viewers that are discouraged after watching these shows?

Paul de Gelder: And also, there have been a bunch of shark bites and attacks recently around America as well. It goes back to what I said earlier. We consider ourselves to be the most intelligent species on Earth with these big brains. We create tools. We have Google. We have the internet. We have lifeguards. We have drones. There’s no reason for us to go out into this inherently wild and dangerous place without implementing some safety strategies.

When we get into our car, what do we do? We put on our seatbelts, we check our mirrors, we drive under speed, and we don’t drink and drive, because we want it to be the safest experience possible. And yet. you have more likelihood of dying in your car on the way to the beach than you ever have a getting killed by a shark. Yet, we still do it.

So, I wouldn’t want anyone to stay out of the ocean. Just be smart about it. Respect it as a wild place. It’s not your backyard swimming pool. Stay informed. Use the internet, use the tools that you have at your disposal to stay safe, and go out and enjoy this beautiful part of nature.

About Great White Serial Killer: Sea of Blood

After three fatal Great White shark attacks occurred off a small Mexican fishing village – including one in which a victim was decapitated – shark attack survivor Paul De Gelder joins shark investigator Brandon McMillan and local biologist Gador Mutaner to launch a plan to ID the killers and keep the villagers in the Sea of Cortez safe.

Check back for our other Shark Week 2024 interviews:

• Tom Hird for 6000lb. Shark
• Forrest Galante for Alien Sharks: Ghosts of Japan