"Eaten Alive" Shark Week Filmmaker on Footage They Can Never Release | Andy Casagrande

Shark cinematographer and television producer Andy Casagrande describes how he moved from software work into shark research and ultimately filmmaking, including National Geographic and Discovery’s Shark Week. He repeatedly contrasts underwater work with the risks and incentives of television, recounting near-misses and how safety decisions are made on shoots.

Casagrande alleges that a Shark Week production considered having Michael Phelps swim at Fish Hoek in South Africa, which he says had multiple fatal great white incidents, and that he held a private meeting to warn Phelps and his team. He also recounts a Bahamas tiger-shark feeding dive in which he says his wife was nearly bitten on the head, claiming the clearest footage was captured by Mark Healey on a GoPro corporate shoot and that GoPro personnel wanted the clip deleted.

He makes several wider claims about shark risk and management, including an anecdote from his own acoustic receiver work off Naples, Florida, which he says logged two tagged great whites arriving the same night at an offshore Navy tower. Casagrande also describes harassment he says he received from fishermen after criticising shark fishing tournaments.

A major policy-focused passage centres on NOAA: Casagrande claims the agency’s shark research fishery has, since 2008, issued quotas allowing large volumes of sandbar sharks to be caught annually and sold, which he argues effectively subsidises a commercial shark-fin pathway. Elsewhere, he offers second-hand allegations of an unpublicised fatal shark-diving incident in the Bahamas.

The episode closes with discussion of documentary filmmaking, gatekeeping in traditional TV and film, and why Casagrande believes independent platforms such as YouTube will increasingly replace broadcast wildlife programming.

• Andy Casagrande says he privately warned Michael Phelps against swimming at Fish Hoek during a Shark Week-related shoot in South Africa.
• Casagrande alleges GoPro staff wanted a tiger-shark near-miss clip involving his wife deleted after a corporate filming day; he says the footage exists but he cannot currently locate it.
• He claims he received threats to his family after criticising shark fishing tournaments and related practices online.
• Casagrande alleges NOAA’s shark research fishery quotas allow significant numbers of sandbar sharks to be caught and sold, which he argues acts as a subsidised shark-fin trade mechanism.
• He describes his own acoustic detections off Naples, Florida, which he says recorded two tagged great white sharks arriving the same night within an hour of each other.
• He relays a second-hand allegation of a fatal Bahamas dive incident involving tiger and reef sharks that he says did not receive public reporting.