By Julie Murphy STAFF WRITER, The Daytona Beach News Journal

PALM COAST — Everyone needs a champion and for the tiger shark Guy Harvey is it.

The marine wildlife artist’s newest documentary, “Tiger Shark Express,” premieres Friday (7) at the Flagler Auditorium in Palm Coast.

“The tiger shark is one of the most amazing sharks occupying a very broad niche,” Harvey said in an email interview from his home in the Cayman Islands. “Like no other shark, they can exist in shallow reef areas just as happily as out in the ocean 10,000 feet deep.”

Though Harvey, 57, may be better known for his artwork that adorns T-shirts and other merchandise, he is first and foremost a scientist and conservationist. He and his crew spent the last five years tagging about 50 tiger sharks in Bermuda, the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands to track and research their lives and travels.

The film brings together Harvey, shark geneticist Mahmood Shivji, shark tracker Brad Wetherbee, shark researcher Samuel Gruber, shark diver Jim Abernethy and veterinarian Dr. Neil Burnie. Emmy award winner George Schellenger shot the footage.

Schellenger said by phone Tuesday he was making the final edits.

“I’m still tweaking,” he said. “I’m looking at the shots, because I want to give people those compelling pictures of the tiger sharks.”

A journalist who has dedicated his life to “the important things in life” like ocean conservation, space exploration and innovation, Schellenger said it’s time for the tiger shark — which can grow to 18 feet and 2,500 pounds — to quit taking a back seat to the great white.

“They are like big Labrador retrievers,” he said. “They don’t do anything fast. Man is their only enemy.”

Harvey shares his fascination.

“There is very little known about their growth rates and life history,” Harvey said in explaining why the Guy Harvey Research Institute chose to devote five years to study “on these majestic nomads of the ocean.”

Schellenger referred to tiger sharks as “the regulators of the sea” because “they remove the sick, the dead or dying, and the dumb,” he said.

“A healthy ocean needs sharks,” Schellenger said.

Besides the variety of habitats in which the tiger sharks can thrive, Schellenger said their journeys of up to 1,000 miles are “highly repeatable.”

“They use their navigation skills in a way where there are no traffic jams on the tiger shark expressway,” he said. “These sharks go on walkabouts of the entire Atlantic Ocean. The juveniles stay closer to home, but as they get older they travel farther.”

The shark’s capacity for travel was a big part of the movie, Harvey said.

“The documentary is about how scientists discovered their migrations using the latest technology,” Harvey said. “Most important, we were able to use the data to help conserve the species (in the Bahamas).”

Q&A

Harvey will field questions at the premiere, which begins at 6:30 p.m. The aptly named publicist Tony Fins said venues often have to politely ask Harvey to leave so it can close.

“He’s really great about answering questions,” Fins said. “He wants to educate people, especially children, because it is key to future conservation.”

If you go

WHAT: Premiere of Guy Harvey’s “Tiger Shark Express”

WHERE: Flagler Auditorium, 5500 E. State Road 100, Palm Coast

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Friday. A question and answer session with Guy Harvey immediately follows the hourlong film

COST: $13.95 for adults and $9.95 for students. Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling 386-437-7547. Bonus: free entry to Marineland Dolphin Adventure on Saturday.

PHOTO:  Guy Harvey films a tiger shark at Tiger Beach in the Bahamas.

Photo / George Schellenger

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