I'm jeremy wade.
Fish on! Fish on!
I've traveled to the ends of the earth
In search of river monsters,
Tracking down aquatic killers in raging rivers,
Dense jungles, and remote coral reefs.
But now in the chilly waters
Of the coast of my native england,
A monster has come to me.
It was enormous.
It was like jaws.
What is this mysterious creature in my own backyard
And what's it doing here?
Is it a new predator to fear?
Some of the encounters i've had
Have been incredibly scary.
I consider them to be like an opportunistic predator.
My investigation will take me to the roof of the world
To find out what's living in the mysterious
Frozen seas around arctic, greenland.
Yes, this is a big one.
And on to the icy norwegian fjords,
Fishing deeper than i've ever fished before.
Yes, yes, here we go.
Yeah!
— captions by vitac — www.Vitac.Com
Captions paid for by discovery communications
On this british beach, one day in 2013,
Something very unusual washed up on the shore,
A mysterious 9-Foot-Long sea monster.
The creature was discovered on the sand
Shortly after sunrise.
Boat captain andrew douglas
Was one of the first on the scene.
Is this where it was?
I got a call to see that there was a bit of a creature
Or something on the beach.
So, word was spreading.
Word was spreading, and the locals were starting to talk.
But when i got here, you know, it was monster-Like.
Monica kernel was on a morning jog
When she stumbled across the bizarre beast.
I was thinking, "oh, it's probably a dead seal."
As i got closer, i thought, "well, maybe it's not a seal,
Maybe it's a whale."
And it wasn't really until i looked closer at it.
It had teeth like a shark.
It was enormous.
It was like jaws or something.
The discovery sent shockwaves
Through the quiet seaside community.
The initial consensus was that it was
Some kind of monster shark,
But what kind exactly?
It turns out this shark specimen was so unusual
And so important that scientists wanted it preserved.
So, it was put on ice.
It was transported almost 350 miles to here —
The natural history museum in london.
I've been granted permission to go behind the scenes
To the tank room,
Which houses one of the most important fish collections
In the world.
This is where the museum stores some of its rarest
And most bizarre underwater specimens.
Many of these strange-Looking creatures
Were collected nearly 200 years ago
By world-Traveling naturalist, charles darwin.
But i'm looking for a more recent addition,
The mysterious northumberland sea monster.
Its guardian is fish curator oliver crimon.
Jeremy?
Hi. Good to see you. It's in here, is it?
It is.
I'm about to come face-To-Face
With the creature from the beach.
Ah, that's a greenland shark, isn't it?
It certainly is.
And what is that doing on a — on a beach in the u.K.?
Well, we don't really know.
Um, its distribution
Is in the north atlantic and the arctic.
But we haven't encountered them in the u.K.
Very often at all.
Is this a dangerous shark potentially?
Well, 'cause we know very little about its biology,
Generally speaking, they've been out of sight
In deep cold water.
It has been surmised to be a scavenger.
But there's no reason
Why this couldn't dismember active prey.
So, we basically don't know.
We don't know.
Now, the greenland shark is not entirely new to me.
I have met this monster once before.
Three years ago, in the dead of night,
I hauled one of these giants
From the freezing depths of a norwegian fjord.
Also known as sleeper sharks,
They're said to be slow moving and docile.
So at the time, i had no reason
To think it was anything other than harmless.
So much so, that i even got in the water with it.
But what if i'd got it wrong?
Fresh research into this shark
Is making me question that decision.
These little-Known sharks can grow
To the size of a great white
And they bite with four times as many teeth.
And i'm uncovering frightening stories
About these sharks
Right across the cold waters of the north atlantic.
If there is a cold-Water killer lurking in my backyard,
I need to know.
According to my research,
The best place to begin my investigation is here,
The country that gave the shark its name.
So, i'm heading north to greenland.
80% of the land mass here is covered in solid ice,
And with just 56,000 inhabitants,
Greenland has the lowest population density
Of any country on earth.
This is just amazing.
I'm almost speechless.
It almost feels like another planet.
It's actually my first time here in the arctic circle
And that white down there is not land,
It's ice,
And this being a field,
The water underneath the ice
Is phenomenally deep.
And the creature i'm after lives way down below the ice.
Sightings of greenland sharks are rare.
But one group of people do encounter
These reclusive beasts, inuit ice fishermen.
So i'm heading to the fishing port of uummannaq,
400 miles north of the arctic circle.
It's 5 degrees below freezing.
With a population of around 1,300,
Uummannaq is one of the biggest towns in greenland.
There are no roads in or out.
And for four months of the year,
The sea is solid ice.
So the fishing fleet goes nowhere.
I really feel like i've come to the end of the world here.
It just looks so different
From anything i've experienced before.
But it's a sensory thing, as well. You feel it.
It is just so cold here and it suddenly occurred to me.
I'm not on a frozen beach.
I'm actually standing in the middle of the harbor.
I'm on sea ice.
It's first time of my life i've actually walked on the sea.
The harbor feels deserted.
But eventually i'm directed
To a few fishermen out on the ice.
- Hi. - Hello.
What name these fish?
- Soursid. - Sour— soursid?
- Soursid. - Soursay?
- Soursee. - Soursee?
My mastery of greenlandic —
Nonexistent at the moment,
But they look like cod to me, nice-Sized cod.
The locals here are mainly inuit,
The indigenous people of arctic, greenland,
Canada, and alaska,
And they've fished these waters for 5,000 years.
Oh, you have one. You have one, huh?
It's a long way to bring the line in.
Good size?
Big one.
A big one? Oh, can see it.
Can see it, can see it.
There it is.
Thanks to antifreeze proteins in their blood,
Cod thrive in cold arctic waters
And are clearly abundant here.
Do you let the bait go down to the bottom?
Slowly getting some life back to my right hand.
- We're here.
So we're on the bottom.
Oop.
Ooh, i think i've got — yeah.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
That's — that's a fish on.
My first — i was gonna say ice-Caught fish.
I haven't caught it yet.
Felt another kick.
Oh, it's going on forever.
Oh, i can see something.
Here it is.
There it is.
It's my first ever ice-Caught fish.
I'm gonna get it off the hook and have a proper look at it.
So this is an atlantic cod,
And i actually used to fish with these when i was a kid,
Off the beach in england, and i don't think i ever caught one.
I think this could be my first cod,
Which makes it sort of doubly memorable.
Who'd have thought all those years ago
I might catch my first cod here in the arctic circle?
I asked the fishermen about greenland sharks,
But apparently they don't haunt these shallower waters.
Do you know people who catch sharks?
To find them, i'll need to head out to deeper water,
Far from the safety of the harbor.
Greenland sharks are most often encountered
By long-Line ice fishermen, like pollock.
He fishes the deeper waters an hour from the town
To feed his family
And sells whatever surplus he gets.
The sea ice we're walking on is seasonal.
Although it's a couple of feet thick,
It can easily fracture in the areas around icebergs.
If this iceberg tips,
It can make waves on the — this ice.
- So the ice will crack? - Yeah.
Most of the icebergs that plague the north atlantic
Come from this coastline,
Including, it is said,
The one that sank the titanic in 1912.
We break open the fishing hole
And prepare to haul up 2,500 feet of hand line.
Yeah, my fingers are cold already. I haven't even started.
Thankfully, pollock is using
What's probably the biggest fishing reel
I've ever seen.
Only 800 meters to go.
Pollock tells me that deep-Water scavengers
Often take part or all of his catch
Before he can get it to the surface.
And his prime suspect is the greenland shark.
Not too fast.
I'm hoping that bite marks on pollock's catch
Will provide clues
About what's hunting down there.
Stop. Stop.
I'm in the arctic,
On the trail of the elusive greenland shark,
Investigating whether it poses a threat to humans.
I'm hauling in a long line,
Which i'm hoping will show evidence
Of shark activity deep beneath this frozen fjord.
The halibut, the first one.
Wow, some halibuts.
Fantastic.
That's actually quite promising.
That's something like 10 or a dozen hooks,
Five fish so far. It's not bad.
This is good news for pollock's dinner table,
But it's not helping my investigation.
I don't see a single shark bite.
But this catch does at least give me
An insight into the creatures
That share the dark depths with the greenland shark.
Gosh, that's weird-Looking.
We call it
That's a deep-Water species, is it?
- Yeah. - Ah, look at those eyes.
It can also live 1,000 meters in the bottom.
Right. Down there where there's not much light.
This fish has a bony skeleton,
But others down there are built on soft cartilage,
Including the greenland shark and this creature.
This is a strange-Looking thing.
This is a — this is a kind of skate.
Well, this is actually a relative
Of the greenland shark.
We call it nuliak.
- Nuliak. - This means your wife.
- Why do they call it that? - It's the wife for the shark.
As night falls and temperatures drop to 10 below freezing,
We waste no time getting back to town.
I'm a bit disappointed in a way.
No evidence at all of the greenland sharks,
Which is actually making it look less likely
That i'm gonna see one.
My ice excursion with pollock didn't further my inquiry.
But he was able to give me a useful contact for tomorrow.
Next day, we plan our fishing around the sun.
Here, in the arctic circle in winter,
There are very few hours of sunlight.
So, i make sure i'm down at the harbor promptly.
Most fishermen in uummannaq
Try to avoid the greenland sharks
That rob their lines.
But there is one man who actively seeks them out.
These ones your dogs?
And he's agreed to take me
On an expedition to catch a shark.
Simi has been going after these huge beasts for 30 years.
He uses the meat of these sharks
To feed his pack of sled dogs.
So, unusually for me,
This will not be a catch and release mission.
These ones your dogs?
Yeah. [ speaks native language ]
Can i — can i help?
Dog sleds are the traditional
Inuit means of transport on the ice
And have kept communities connected through winter
For thousands of years.
It's like having an unruly fish on the line.
Greenland dogs are renowned for their loyalty.
They have even been known to protect
Their human keepers from polar bears.
So, that's the last dog tied up.
It looks like we've got one, two, three,
Four, five. He's going with six.
Um, gonna get the sleds sorted out.
Purebred greenland dogs are famed for their stamina.
They can run 100 miles a day for seven consecutive days.
The shark fishing grounds
Are near the edge of the sea ice.
The water underneath us is extremely deep,
Around 3,000 feet
And the ice here is thinner and vulnerable to cracking.
When we get to the chosen spot,
We immediately secure the dogs.
With no rocks or trees around,
We tether them to the ice.
If they ran off,
We're a very long way from the town.
Simi favors the warmth of his polar bear pants
Over any man-Made fibers.
But the fur does get me thinking.
This far from help and with nowhere to hide,
We are vulnerable to polar bear attack.
Do they have them around — around here?
He doesn't think
They're around here at the moment.
But they do sometimes come here.
I think just the idea that there's polar bears
Anywhere around here is quite disturbing.
Shall i do a little?
The ice here is about a foot thick
And takes some cutting.
Good, we've hit the seawater.
Let's push it underneath.
We have an ice hole.
Fishing.
Ice fishing with hand lines
Hasn't changed much in hundreds of years,
Although hooks made from animal bone
Have been replaced by stainless steel.
Slightly more serious hook
And then that's no ordinary line.
That is — that's cable, that's wire cable.
So, even the greenland shark's really big, sharp teeth
Shouldn't cut through that.
We got a big lump of rock on the end
To make sure it keeps on the bottom.
And then we've got strong chain.
Simi unwraps his secret weapon —
Days' old seal meat.
That is — that is horrible.
But to a greenland shark, that smells like dinner.
Get that on the hook.
And then 3,000 feet of line,
Ready to drop into another world
Where the water is pitch black
And under intense pressure.
So, another one.
So, all the bait's in the water
And it's now pulling down fast.
It's about the same distance to the bottom here
As it is to the top of that mountain.
Everything's very still up here on the surface
But there is a — there is a current.
Even with that rock and chain on,
It's not going straight down.
It's going slightly that way.
The current will carry the smell out to sea,
And if we're lucky, draw sharks on to the bait
In pitch darkness, half a mile beneath us.
Yeah?
We have the bottom.
That's just a terrifying depth
And that is just way deeper than anything
I've ever fished before.
The fishing that i normally do is often about waiting.
But out here, that's simply not an option.
We would freeze to death.
The inuit way is to retreat to camp
And return the next day.
That evening, in the last glimmers of daylight,
I join simi and his family for a traditional meal.
Thank you.
They've turned some of yesterday's
Halibut catch into a stew and it's delicious.
Ah, it's very tasty.
Sharing food is an important part of inuit culture.
Communities will pull together
To ensure that no one,
Including strangers, goes hungry.
Next morning, rested and refreshed,
We're back on the ice.
It's 5 miles to the fishing hole,
And the dogs seem eager to get there.
The extreme long line
Has been down for over 12 hours.
With 3,000 feet between us and the bait,
There's no way to know if we've got something
On the line...
Maybe, maybe.
This is the one greenlandic word i'm picking up.
Until we haul it up.
We've got a long haul getting the rock
And getting the hooks up from the bottom.
It's something like three quarters of a mile.
And over here, take a wrap,
A wrap, a wrap.
Off we go.
It could be wishful thinking,
But this feels heavier than the weighted line
We dropped down yesterday.
I think it's, yeah, it's more.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
There could be something on the end of this
Other than that lump of rock,
Feels like more of an effort.
Walking in relay gives us a chance to catch our breath.
It's a bit like hauling something
That could be 1,000 pounds plus in weight,
Twice the height of the empire state building,
Something like that.
But half an hour of heavy hauling
Brings the end of the line to the surface.
Line. Chain.
Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes.
I'm in the arctic
Investigating the mysterious greenland shark.
And i'm helping simi, a local inuit, to catch one
To feed his pack of dogs.
Be right over there.
We've hauled in more than half a mile of line
And it looks like there's something on the end.
Line, chain.
Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes, there's a fish.
We have a fish on.
We just need to get the chain... Up.
Oh, yes. This is a big one.
How do we get it through the hole?
The shark isn't fighting.
It probably died on the line overnight.
Right, the hole isn't big enough for the shark.
So, just cutting more ice.
Two, three.
It still feels like it's stuck.
Looks like we're going to need a bigger hole.
I never like to see a dead fish,
But it's all part of survival here for the inuit.
This shark will feed simi's dogs for weeks to come.
This is a big head. How big is the rest of it?
This could be the moment if the hole is big enough.
Okay, ready?
Yes, is that coming?
Yes, it's starting to come up.
I think it's...
It's a good 10 foot or so, i think,
There's still more to come.
This is a perfect opportunity to further my investigation.
It's out.
It's a big animal. This is massive.
This is huge. Let's have a look at it.
It's a female.
Very shark-Like tail, that asymmetric tail.
The fascinating thing about sharks
That we always want to look at is the jaws, the teeth.
And the greenland shark has these very pointy teeth
On the upper jaw, that's for gripping.
But then on the lower jaw,
You've got these almost square-Shaped teeth
With almost like a chisel blade on the end.
They're definitely sharp,
But are they sharp enough to attack and kill?
The other thing here is the nostrils,
Thinking of my baits in the context of this place.
We're talking about a depth of water
A couple of thousand feet deep.
The bait is just a tiny speck in that immensity of water,
And this managed to find it.
And the way it found it was using its sense of smell.
Simi starts to prepare cuts for his dogs.
But the meat will have to be cured
Before they can eat it.
High levels of urea make fresh greenland shark meat toxic.
This is my chance to find out how
And what these sharks eat under the ice.
So here's all the guts just coming out.
This is a halibut.
This is quite a big halibut.
There we go, that's the head.
And ah, look at that.
So, that's probably somebody's fishing net.
That's quite a big fish in there.
What fish is this?
- It's a cod.
Now, this is interesting.
That might be a cod that died of natural causes
And this came along and fed on it
Or they might actually take living fish.
I'm wondering if greenland sharks
Are more than just scavengers.
So, i need to find out what else they eat
And how they eat it.
But i'm not going to find those answers
In this ice-Covered sea.
I've got to drop my line in more temperate waters.
I'm heading 1,500 miles across the atlantic,
Where i've heard about a greenland shark study
That's underway off the coast of norway.
Tromso is a fishing port with a long history
Of whaling and seal hunting.
And today this small island town
Is leading the way in the study of arctic animals,
Including the greenland shark.
I head to the arctic university,
Where a team of scientists are trying
To unlock the secrets of this elusive animal.
Danish scientist julius nielsen made headlines
With his cutting-Edge research into aging these sharks.
His study revealed that the largest
And oldest greenland sharks
Could be 400 years old or more,
Meaning that some specimens alive today
Might have roamed the north atlantic
At the same time as the mayflower.
But julius also has fascinating evidence
On how greenland sharks feed.
And he's sure they have the tools
To take out live prey.
The teeth of the upper jaw is like a fork
Where it can hold the prey.
And then in the lower jaw, it's like a razor blade.
It's actually working like a knife.
So, when the shark does like this
And then it can make
These circular — circular wounds
And circular chunks that they eat.
So, you're saying it would do almost like a 180
Or it — it just does a spin.
360 rotation actually,
Is what i imagined that they can do.
And julius has the evidence to back up his theory.
First this picture, this is a beluga whales
In an ice hole somewhere in the high arctic.
- Right. - As you can see here,
One of the whales has a very big circular wound.
So, that's definitely alive, isn't it?
That's not a dead creature.
No, this is a live whale
That has a very, very distinct wound.
So imagine that the shark gets a bite on here
And then it just twists around, circular wound.
And actually it's difficult to imagine
Any other animal in the arctic
That could cause this — this exact wound.
It appears only greenland sharks
Are capable of inflicting this type of injury.
Julius also has photos of circular bites
Of seal flesh found
Inside greenland sharks' stomachs.
If greenland sharks take live prey
And are capable of attacking creatures
Far larger than themselves,
Would they go after humans?
I meet with canadian marine biologist chris harvey-Clark,
One of very few people in the world
Who have dived with these sharks.
Have you ever felt that you might be on the menu
Or they might be thinking along those lines?
When i first started diving with these animals,
I had no idea what they were gonna do.
People sort of thought they were big,
Sleepy, catfish-Type animals
That really were not particularly predatory,
Were not particularly curious.
Well, it turns out that they do
All kinds of things we never expected.
Chris' rare footage shows
Just how close he got to these sharks
In the st. Lawrence river in canada.
They will leave you
And then they'll go out and they'll come around
And they'll get back on your 6:00 position.
They do it again and again and again.
They want to come back and see just what's going on.
And curiosity is a predator trait.
Some of the encounters i've had have been incredibly scary,
Particularly bad visibility
When the animal encounters you despite your best efforts.
I've got mirrors on my camera,
My head's on a swivel and bang.
That gives you pause and it also makes me think
About how these animals
Actually can kill, agile, smart prey.
This is disturbing stuff.
These sharks displayed no fear of chris in the water.
Perhaps they consider humans potential prey.
Would these sharks attack?
I need to get one on the end of a line.
Only by doing battle with one of these beasts
Will i be able to get a sense of what it's capable of.
Yes, yes.
I'm in arctic norway investigating the true
Nature of the mysterious greenland shark.
And i'm heading 150 miles south of tromso
To the deep-Water fjords around andoya island.
I've discovered that there's more to this elusive shark
Than meets the eye.
To find out if they pose any threat to people,
I'm joining scientist julius nielsen
And his team on the vogs fjord
Where greenland sharks congregate
At this time of the year.
- Morning. - Morning, jeremy!
- Hey. - Good to see you.
- Good weather, eh? - Yeah.
We're going to pool our resources
To catch one of these sharks.
My target will be a large adult,
For the most accurate gauge of this animal's power,
And today's conditions are perfect.
We need calm water to handle big sharks safely.
However, the long-Range forecast is not so good.
An arctic storm is on its way.
So, the pressure is on to catch a shark quickly.
Boat captain thor ivand
Is a veteran of these expeditions
And knows this fjord like the back of his hand.
So, this is a more sophisticated version
Of what i was using in greenland.
I mean, there's a little bit of chain on the end.
You need metal down here by the bait,
Because otherwise the shark's teeth
Are just going to chomp through it.
So, on the end of the wire, we've got very thick nylon.
Good to go? - Yeah.
Using a rod-On-Line
To catch what could be a one-Ton fish
Is a massive challenge.
But it's my chance to finally see what this monster can do.
This fjord plunges to a depth of 1,500 feet.
My bait is a tiny speck
In an impossible volume of water.
After several hours, there are signs of activity.
What do you reckon, thor?
There's definitely something, isn't it?
But does that look more like a small fish?
Yeah, you see the rod there.
Yeah, there it goes.
There is some movement there, yeah, you see.
There, there, there, there, definitely.
But fishing at such enormous depths
Is difficult to read the signals.
The only way to know for sure is to bring the line up.
That feels like it might be something.
Reeling in 1,500 feet of line
Can take 20 minutes of effort.
I'm simply quite curious to see what this bait looks like
Because it's definitely had a lot of attention
From something.
Ah, it's...
Ah, yeah. - So, this is more like it.
Yes, something has bitten the bait in half.
I think definitely a shark has caused this,
But it's just not taking all the bait
And didn't take the hook.
Would you guess that's a smaller one or no way of saying?
- No way of saying. - No way?
- That's a good sign. - That's a good sign.
Good sign, something has been, okay, right.
It's confirmation that we're fishing in the right spot,
But we're one day down with no shark.
And we won't have good weather for long.
The next day, we're back on the water,
But the wind direction has changed.
Cold arctic air is sweeping in from the north.
A storm is close.
Okay, got that? - Yeah.
After a couple of hours, i feel a pull on my line.
That's it. Okay, here we go.
Just gonna wind down.
And this time it feels bigger.
Yes, eventually. Yes.
Yes, yes, there is something.
Can someone just —
Just hang on to me there just, thanks.
Whatever is on the line, it's fighting
And bringing it up is not easy
From a wet, moving deck.
There's definitely a weight on here,
Considerable weight.
The last time i landed a greenland shark
Was in the middle of the night.
An encounter in daylight will be far more revealing,
But i can't relax for a second.
I've probably got its head,
The whole body tilting up at the moment.
So, if it actually beats its tail,
It's helping its way to the surface.
But, uh, if i pause to take a breath
And he gets his head down,
Suddenly my work's a lot harder.
My arms are burning, but i've got to keep reeling.
I may not get another chance.
Yes, yes, here we are.
It's on the surface, there it is.
Wow! Yeah!
I'm in norway on the trail of the greenland shark
And something has taken my bait 1,500 feet under the boat.
Yes, yes, here we are.
It's on the surface, there it is.
Wow! Yeah!
Exactly what we're talking about.
- Right. - Wow, wow, wow, wow!
- This is interesting. - This is very, very unusual.
Even after 15 minutes on the line,
This supposedly sluggish shark
Is thrashing with the energy
More like i'd expect from a great white.
This is surprising.
I've never seen a greenland shark
With this kind of movement.
I've never seen one this much alive.
Normally they are slow and docile, really interesting.
Wow!
- Yeah.
A noose is secured around its tail
To prevent the shark from spinning.
213 i got.
Yep, 213.
7 feet long and weighing 250 pounds,
I'm told it's a 40-Year-Old juvenile.
We let go?
There we go, off you go.
Vertical.
Seeing this energetic behavior on the surface
Feels like a breakthrough in my investigation.
That shark was definitely very much alive.
It was smashing its tail back and forth.
It surprised you? The activity.
Definitely. I have never seen a greenland shark
With this kind of movements before.
There was exactly what i was kind of hoping
Or expecting that they could do.
This dramatic encounter suggests to me
That this shark might be something
Of a jekyll and hyde character,
A normally docile scavenger
That can suddenly turn on the aggression,
But we need to know more.
Julius needs a larger shark to tag.
And i need to do battle with a full-Sized adult
To see what power it can wield.
We fish on.
The hours pass with no further action on the line.
When something does finally break the surface,
It's big, but it's not a shark.
Well, i've seen lots of strange things,
Filming "river monsters,"
But this is definitely a first for me.
Sitting in a boat and next thing you know,
There's a submarine appearing alongside.
Hey.
Seeing this submarine gets me thinking about
What life must be like for greenland sharks,
Living at extreme depth under immense water pressure.
This is an aluminum drink bottle — empty.
Seal it up.
When i say it's empty, i mean, technically, it's full of air,
But air at one atmospheric pressure,
And i'm gonna throw this in the water.
Actually, if i threw it in just like this, it would float.
So...
Couple of big weights to take it down,
And to record what happens to it —
Waterproof camera here.
Just set that running.
A greenland shark has been observed
Over 7,000 feet down from a robotic submersible.
This experiment shows what happens
At just a fraction of that depth and pressure.
That's actually 100 feet.
I'm gonna stop it there and bring it up.
There's the camera, and there we go.
And this is a metal object that's been crushed at 100 feet.
The greenland shark in this fjord live down at 1,500 feet,
So where the pressure is actually 15 times what did that.
As a land animal
Who occasionally splashes around in the shallows,
It's just very hard to imagine.
But it's like living in a world without light
But just such immense pressure.
We fish on as the arctic storm creeps ever closer.
It looks like the weather forecast was right.
It's continuing to deteriorate — the weather.
Ah, we've got a bit of rain starting now.
It's really just hoping that we get something
Before it gets that much worse,
But so far, nothing,
Nothing really happening today.
Just as i fear my window of opportunity
Is closing, a sign from the deep.
Is that something? - Uh-Huh.
I strap in just in case.
This is definitely my last chance
To land something big.
- Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. - You have something?
Yes.
It's actually pulling.
Are you on my back? Somebody on my back.
Somebody on this handle here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's rolling, it's rolling.
Potentially dangerous
Because it rolls to parallel line.
Ah.
That's a very strong pull here.
The rod is levering me.
And i've got feet on a slippery deck.
A couple times i've just —
Quite worried about disappearing over the edge.
There's no doubt that whatever is on my line
Has monstrous power.
Here we go. - Back.
- Leaning back. - Yeah, got it.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
I'm in norway
With what feels like a monster shark
On the end of my line.
Here we go. - Back.
- Leaning back. - Yeah, got it.
There it is.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Yeah.
- It's a feisty one. - It's a very feisty one.
It's a 10-Foot greenland shark.
Where's the other end? Here, put it here.
So it's a big male shark. We can see
That they are very well-Developed.
Julius and i just have minutes to examine,
Tag, and release this shark.
The process punctures the thick skin
But doesn't harm the animal.
These satellite tags will record how far
And how deep this shark swims over the next six months.
For me, though, it's all about size and power.
So, this is — this is the girth.
So, uh, that is how —
How wide around the body this animal is.
I reckon this shark weighs around 700 pounds.
Julius estimates it's roughly 200 years old.
It's one of the biggest and certainly the oldest fish
I've ever caught.
It's truly awe-Inspiring
To look at this creature up close,
A monster that few people ever see.
And this daylight encounter has told me
What i needed to know.
Well, this is what i came to norway for.
What i wanted to see was a live greenland shark
In the daylight up on the surface
So i can get a really good look at it.
And also, the other thing was just feeling it on the line.
The sharks that i pulled in
Didn't seem like docile scavengers.
Their powerful bursts of energy were those of a beast
That can react fast to moving prey,
A hunter that knows its own strength
And how to use it.
Add to that, the highly specialized teeth
And you could be looking at a very capable predator.
Today, we have made a significant step
Towards getting a much fuller picture
Of this very, very strange, elusive shark.
But does the greenland shark pose
A threat to people in the water?
Certainly knowing what i know now,
I'd think twice
About jumping into the water with another one.
This shark appears to have a temperament
That can shift from unassuming scavenger
To powerful killer in a heartbeat.
And until we know what flicks that switch,
I just hope that this mysterious
Jekyll and hyde monster
Remains deep under the arctic ice,
Well away from here.