The Sydney Morning Herald
December 5, 2007

Drastic and disturbing changes are taking place under the sea, writes Judy Friedlander.

Richard Fitzpatrick, one of the world's leading ocean cameramen, is frequently up close and personal with an array of sharks, box jellyfish and Minke whales. But when he speaks of danger, he talks about humans.

Fitzpatrick is also a qualified marine biologist who is doing post-graduate work in shark tracking through Queensland's James Cook University. In the three decades he has spent in the water, from the time he was a child growing up in Rockhampton to now, he has seen drastic and disturbing changes in marine life populations - from coral to tropical fish, sea urchins, turtles and predators such as sharks. And it is the dramatic drop in shark numbers that has Fitzpatrick particularly worried because of their key role in the marine ecosystem.

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