Sharkwater is a devastatingly beautiful film. I'm not exaggerating or being trite when I say this. Point of fact I've chosen my words very carefully. Filmed using high definition technology, the underwater shots in this film are the most stunning I have ever seen. And I have watched hundreds of nature documentaries. Every swooping elegant camera shot beneath the sea made me desperately long to be there. Rob Stewart is a truly gifted photographer.

But this is no plane Jane marine documentary. What begins as a slick underwater adventure quickly turns into an intense human drama. Let's see — there's a boat collision, an undercover operation involving the Taiwanese mafia, the exposure of a trillion dollar black market in fins that is second only to the drug trade, charges of attempted murder, an under the gun chase out of Costa Rica, and even a near death experience for filmmaker Stewart when he was diagnosed with flesh eating disease. Hollywood could not have come up with a more compelling and gripping tale.

While on assignment in the Galápagos, Stewart came across an illegal long line fishing boat inside the reserve. Wanting to change public misconceptions about sharks, he set out to make his own documentary about his favorite animal. He later met and joined forces with renegade activist Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Captain Watson and his crew were embarking on a campaign to stop illegal poaching in the marine reserves of Cocos island in Costa Rica and the Galápagos islands. En route they came across a Costa Rican boat illegally fishing and finning sharks in Guatemalan waters.

Shark finning is the practice of catching large numbers of sharks, cutting off their fins and dumping the rest of the animal back into the ocean, often still alive and unable to swim.

At the request of Guatemalan authorities, the crew of Watson's ship the Ocean Warrior, attempted to bring the fishing boat in for arrest. Caught on camera, the confrontation included the use of water cannons, a ship collision and subsequent news that a Guatemalan gun boat was on its way to arrest the crew of Ocean Warrior instead. Upon arrival in Costa Rica, Stewart and Watson were faced with charges on seven counts of attempted murder.