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  • 4 days ago
River.Monsters.S09E02
Transcript
00:01I'm Jeremy Wade.
00:08I've traveled to the ends of the earth in search of river monsters.
00:13Tracking down aquatic killers in raging rivers.
00:17Dense jungles.
00:20And remote coral reefs.
00:22But now, in the chilly waters off the coast of my native England, a monster has come to me.
00:32It was enormous. It was like Jaws.
00:35What is this mysterious creature in my own backyard? And what's it doing here?
00:41Is it a new predator to fear?
00:43Some of the encounters I've had have been incredibly scary.
00:47I consider them to be like an opportunistic predator.
00:49My investigation will take me to the roof of the world.
00:53To find out what's living in the mysterious frozen seas around Arctic Greenland.
00:59Oh, yes. This is a big one.
01:01And on to the icy Norwegian fjords.
01:04Fishing deeper than I've ever fished before.
01:07Yes, yes, here we go.
01:19On this British beach, one day in 2013, something very unusual washed up on the shore.
01:42A mysterious nine foot long sea monster.
01:45The creature was discovered on the sand shortly after sunrise.
01:53Boat captain Andrew Douglas was one of the first on the scene.
01:59Is this where it was?
02:00I got a call to say there was a bit of a creature or something on the beach.
02:03So word was spreading.
02:04Word was spreading, the locals were starting to talk.
02:06But when I got here, you know, it was a monster, like.
02:14Monica Cornall was on a morning jog when she stumbled across the bizarre beast.
02:19I was thinking, oh, it's probably a dead seal.
02:22And as I got closer, I thought, well, maybe it's not a seal, maybe it's a whale.
02:25And it wasn't really until I looked closer at it.
02:29It had teeth like a shark.
02:32It was enormous.
02:33It was like jaws or something.
02:36The discovery sent shock waves through the quiet seaside community.
02:41Initial consensus was that it was some kind of monster shark.
02:45But what kind exactly?
02:46It turns out this shark specimen was so unusual and so important that scientists wanted it preserved.
02:58So it was put on ice.
02:59It was transported almost 350 miles to here, the Natural History Museum in London.
03:09I've been granted permission to go behind the scenes to the Tank Room,
03:13which houses one of the most important fish collections in the world.
03:19This is where the museum stores some of its rarest and most bizarre underwater specimens.
03:25Many of these strange looking creatures were collected nearly 200 years ago
03:30by world travelling naturalist Charles Darwin.
03:34But I'm looking for a more recent addition,
03:37the mysterious Northumberland sea monster.
03:39Its guardian is fish curator, Oliver Crimin.
03:45Jeremy?
03:46Good to see you.
03:47It's in here, is it?
03:48It is.
03:54I'm about to come face to face with the creature from the beach.
03:59Ah.
04:09That's a Greenland shark, isn't it?
04:10It certainly is.
04:12And what is that doing on a beach in the UK?
04:15Well, we don't really know.
04:17Its distribution is in the North Atlantic and the Arctic,
04:20but we haven't encountered them in the UK very often at all.
04:23Is this a dangerous shark, potentially?
04:25Well, because we know very little about its biology.
04:29Generally speaking, they've been out of sight in deep cold water.
04:34It has been surmised to be a scavenger,
04:38but there's no reason why this couldn't dismember active prey.
04:42So we basically don't know.
04:44We don't know.
04:45Now, the Greenland shark is not entirely new to me.
04:53I have met this monster once before.
04:57Three years ago, in the dead of night,
05:00I hauled one of these giants from the freezing depths of a Norwegian fjord.
05:07Also known as sleeper sharks, they're said to be slow moving and docile.
05:11So at the time, I had no reason to think it was anything other than harmless.
05:17So much so that I even got in the water with it.
05:22But what if I'd got it wrong?
05:26Fresh research into this shark is making me question that decision.
05:31These little known sharks can grow to the size of a great white,
05:37and they bite with four times as many teeth.
05:40And I'm uncovering frightening stories about these sharks
05:44right across the cold waters of the North Atlantic.
05:49If there is a cold water killer lurking in my backyard, I need to know.
05:53According to my research, the best place to begin my investigation is here.
06:00The country that gave the shark its name.
06:08So I'm heading north to Greenland.
06:1180% of the land mass here is covered in solid ice.
06:15And with just 56,000 inhabitants, Greenland has the lowest population density of any country on Earth.
06:24This is just amazing. I'm almost speechless.
06:28It almost feels like another planet.
06:31It's actually my first time here in the Arctic Circle.
06:34And that white down there is not land, it's ice.
06:39And this being a field, the water underneath the ice is phenomenally deep.
06:45And the creature I'm after lives way down below the ice.
06:52Sightings of Greenland sharks are rare.
06:56But one group of people do encounter these reclusive beasts.
07:00Inuit ice fishermen.
07:04So I'm heading to the fishing port of Umanak.
07:09400 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
07:22It's five degrees below freezing.
07:25With a population of around 1300, Umanak is one of the biggest towns in Greenland.
07:30There are no roads in or out.
07:34And for four months of the year, the sea is solid ice.
07:38So the fishing fleet goes nowhere.
07:41I really feel like I've come to the end of the world here.
07:45It just looks so different from anything I've experienced before.
07:49But it's a sensory thing as well. You feel it. It is just so cold here.
07:52And it suddenly occurred to me I'm not on a frozen beach.
07:55I'm actually standing in the middle of the harbour.
07:57I'm on sea ice.
07:59It's the first time in my life I've actually walked on the sea.
08:02The harbour feels deserted.
08:04But eventually I'm directed to a few fishermen out on the ice.
08:13Hello.
08:15What name are these fish?
08:16Sawarsid.
08:17Sawarsid.
08:18Sawarsid.
08:19Sawarsid.
08:20Sawarsid.
08:21Sawarsid.
08:22Sawarsid.
08:23My mastery of Greenlandic non-existent at the moment.
08:25But they look like cod to me.
08:26Nice sized cod.
08:28The locals here are mainly Inuit.
08:30The indigenous people of Arctic Greenland, Canada and Alaska.
08:36And they fished these waters for 5,000 years.
08:42Oh, you have one?
08:43You have one on?
08:44Yeah.
08:45It's a long way to bring the line in.
08:47Good size?
08:49A big one.
08:50A big one?
08:51Oh, I can see it.
08:52I can see it.
08:53There it is.
08:56Thanks to anti-freeze proteins in their blood, cod thrive in cold Arctic waters and are clearly
09:04abundant here.
09:06Do you let the bait go down to the bottom?
09:17Slowly getting some life back to my right hand.
09:19Oh, we're here.
09:20So, we're on the bottom.
09:21Oh, I think I've left here.
09:22Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
09:31That's the fish on.
09:32My first, I was going to say ice caught fish.
09:33I haven't caught it yet.
09:34That was another kick.
09:39It's going on forever.
09:40Oh, I can see something.
09:41Here it is.
09:42There it is.
09:43There it is.
09:44It's my first ever ice caught fish.
09:45I'm going to get it off the hook and have a proper look at it.
09:46It's my first ever ice caught fish.
09:47I'm going to get it off the hook and have a proper look at it.
09:48So, this is an Atlantic cod.
09:49It's my first ever ice caught fish.
09:50I'm going to get it off the hook and have a proper look at it.
09:51So, this is an Atlantic cod.
09:52It's my first ever ice caught fish.
09:53I'm going to get it off the hook and have a proper look at it.
10:16This is an Atlantic cod.
10:18And I actually used to fish with these when I was a kid off the beach in England and I
10:22don't think I ever caught one.
10:23I think this could be my first cod, which makes it sort of doubly memorable.
10:26Who'd have thought all those years ago I might catch my first cod here in the Arctic Circle.
10:32I asked the fishermen about Greenland sharks, but apparently they don't haunt these shallower
10:39waters.
10:40Do you know people who catch sharks?
10:41To find them, I'll need to head out to deeper water.
10:45Far from the safety of the harbour.
11:02Greenland sharks are most often encountered by longline ice fishermen like Paluk.
11:08He fishes the deeper waters an hour from the town to feed his family and sells whatever
11:15surplus he gets.
11:19The sea ice we're walking on is seasonal.
11:22Although it's a couple of feet thick, it can easily fracture in the areas around icebergs.
11:27If this iceberg tips can make waves under this ice.
11:32So the ice will crack it?
11:33Yeah.
11:34Most of the icebergs that plague the North Atlantic come from this coastline, including, it is said,
11:41the one that sank the Titanic in 1912.
11:47We break open the fishing hole and prepare to haul up two and a half thousand feet of handgrine.
11:54Yeah, my fingers are cold already, haven't even started.
11:58Thankfully, Paluk is using what's probably the biggest fishing reel I've ever seen.
12:04Only 800 metres to go.
12:10Paluk tells me that deep water scavengers often take part or all of his catch before he can get it to the surface.
12:20And his prime suspect is the Greenland shark.
12:26Not too fast.
12:29I'm hoping that bite marks on Paluk's catch will provide clues about what's hunting down there.
12:35Stop.
12:36I'm in the Arctic, on the trail of the elusive Greenland shark, investigating whether it poses a threat to humans.
12:57I'm hauling in a long line which I'm hoping will show evidence of shark activity deep beneath this frozen field.
13:04Got the halibut, the first one.
13:06Great!
13:09We have some halibuts.
13:11Fantastic.
13:16That's actually quite promising.
13:17That's something like ten or a dozen hooks.
13:19Five fish so far, it's not bad.
13:21This is good news for Paluk's dinner table, but it's not helping my investigation.
13:27I don't see a single shark bite.
13:30Yeah.
13:31But this catch does at least give me an insight into the creatures that share the dark depths with the Greenland shark.
13:37Gosh, that's weird looking.
13:38We call it a...
13:40That's a deep water species, isn't it?
13:41Yeah.
13:42Look at those eyes.
13:43You can also live at the thousand metres.
13:46Right.
13:47In the bottom.
13:48Down there where there's not much light.
13:50This fish has a bony skeleton, but others down there are built on soft cartilage, including the Greenland shark.
13:57And this creature.
13:59That's just a strange looking thing.
14:00It's killed.
14:01It's still full up.
14:02This is a kind of skate.
14:03This is actually a relative of the Greenland shark.
14:05We call it Nulyak.
14:06Nulyak.
14:07This one.
14:08It means wife.
14:09Why do they call it that?
14:10It's a wife for the shark.
14:11As night falls and temperatures drop to ten below freezing, we waste no time getting back to town.
14:19I'm a bit disappointed in a way.
14:20No evidence at all of Greenland sharks, which is actually making it look less likely that I'm going to see one.
14:29My ice excursion with Paluk didn't further my inquiry, but he was able to give me a useful contact for tomorrow.
14:41Next day, we plan our fishing around the sun.
14:46Here, in the Arctic Circle in winter, there are very few hours of sunlight.
14:52So I make sure I'm down at the harbour promptly.
14:59Most fishermen in Umanac try to avoid the Greenland sharks that rob their lines.
15:04But there is one man who actively seeks them out.
15:09And he's agreed to take me on an expedition to catch a shark.
15:14Simi has been going after these huge beasts for 30 years.
15:19He uses the meat of these sharks to feed his pack of sled dogs.
15:23So unusually for me, this will not be a catch and release mission.
15:27Are these ones your dogs?
15:29Can I help?
15:31Dog sleds are the traditional Inuit means of transport on the ice.
15:37And have kept communities connected through winter for thousands of years.
15:42It's like having an unruly fish on the line.
15:46Greenland dogs are renowned for their loyalty.
15:50They have even been known to protect their human keepers from polar bears.
15:55So that's the last dog tied up.
15:57It looks like we've got one, two, three, four, five...
16:00It's going with six.
16:02Go and get the sled sorted out.
16:13Pure-bred Greenland dogs are famed for their stamina.
16:16They can run a hundred miles a day for seven consecutive days.
16:25The shark fishing grounds are near the edge of the sea ice.
16:30The water underneath us is extremely deep, around 3,000 feet.
16:36And the ice here is thinner and vulnerable to cracking.
16:39When we get to the chosen spot, we immediately secure the dogs.
16:51With no rocks or trees around, we tether them to the ice.
16:56If they ran off, we're a very long way from the town.
17:00Simi favours the warmth of his polar bear pants over any man-made fibres.
17:07But the fur does get me thinking.
17:10This far from help and with nowhere to hide, we are vulnerable to polar bear attack.
17:15Do they have them around here?
17:18He doesn't think they're around here at the moment, but they do sometimes come here.
17:22I think just the idea that there's polar bears anywhere around here is quite disturbing.
17:25The ice here is about a foot thick and takes some cutting.
17:35Good, we've hit the sea water.
17:38Just push it underneath.
17:45Go on.
17:47We have an ice hole.
17:52Fishing.
17:53Ice fishing with hand lines hasn't changed much in hundreds of years.
17:58Although hooks made from animal bone have been replaced by stainless steel.
18:03Slightly more serious hook.
18:05And then that's not ordinary line, that's cable, that's wire cable.
18:08So even the Greenland shark's really big, sharp teeth shouldn't cut through that.
18:13We've got a big lump of rock on the end to make sure it keeps on the bottom.
18:16And then we've got a strong chain.
18:18Simi unwraps his secret weapon, days old seal meat.
18:23That is horrible.
18:25But to a Greenland shark, that smells like dinner.
18:28Get that on the hook.
18:30And then 3,000 feet of line, ready to drop into another world, where the water is pitch black and under intense pressure.
18:39Go back up, go up, go up, go up, go up, go up, go up, go up, go up, go up, go up, go up, go up.
18:43So another one.
18:45Yeah, get a knife.
18:47So all the bait's in the water, and it's now pulling down fast.
18:56It's about the same distance to the bottom here as it is to the top of that mountain.
19:01Everything's very still up here on the surface, but there's a current, even with that rock and chain on, it's not going straight down, it's going slightly that way.
19:11The current will carry the smell out to sea, and if we're lucky, draw sharks onto the bait in pitch darkness, half a mile beneath us.
19:21Again?
19:24We have the bottom.
19:26That's just a terrifying depth, and that is just way deeper than anything I've ever fished before.
19:32The fishing that I normally do is often about waiting.
19:36But out here, that's simply not an option.
19:39We would freeze to death.
19:44The Inuit way is to retreat to camp, and return the next day.
19:54That evening, in the last glimmers of daylight, I joined Simi and his family for a traditional meal.
20:07They've turned some of yesterday's halibut catch into a stew, and it's delicious.
20:14That's very tasty.
20:16Sharing food is an important part of Inuit culture.
20:20Communities will pull together to ensure that no one, including strangers, goes hungry.
20:25Next morning, rested and refreshed, we're back on the ice.
20:37It's five miles to the fishing hole, and the dogs seem eager to get there.
20:41The extreme long line has been down for over 12 hours.
20:47With 3,000 feet between us and the bait, there's no way to know if we've got something on the line.
20:56In my car.
20:57In my car.
20:58Maybe, maybe.
20:59This is the one Greenlandic word I'm picking up.
21:02Until we haul it up.
21:07We've got a long haul getting the rock and getting the hooks up from the bottom.
21:12Something like three quarters of a mile.
21:15And over here.
21:17Take a ramp, a ramp, a ramp.
21:20Off we go.
21:21Off we go.
21:24It could be wishful thinking, but this feels heavier than the weighted line we dropped down yesterday.
21:30I think it's, yeah, it's more.
21:33Yeah.
21:35There could be something on the end of this other than that lump of rock.
21:40Feels like more of an effort.
21:42Walking in relay gives us a chance to catch our breath.
21:47It's a bit like hauling something that could be a thousand pounds plus in weight twice the height of the Empire State Building.
21:56Something like that.
21:59But half an hour of heavy hauling brings the end of the line to the surface.
22:05One, two.
22:07Oh!
22:08Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!
22:19I'm in the Arctic investigating the mysterious Greenland shark.
22:23And I'm helping Simi, a local Inuit, catch one to feed his pack of dogs.
22:31We've hauled in more than half a mile of line and it looks like there's something on the end.
22:37Line, chain.
22:39Oh!
22:40Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!
22:41Yes!
22:42There's a fish.
22:43We have a fish on.
22:44We just need to get the chain up.
22:51Oh, yes!
22:53This is a big one.
22:54How do we get it through the hole?
22:58The shark isn't fighting.
23:00It probably died on the line overnight.
23:02Right.
23:04The hole isn't big enough for the shark, so just cutting more ice.
23:13Two.
23:15Three.
23:17It still feels like it's stuck.
23:20Looks like we're going to need a bigger hole.
23:24I never like to see a dead fish, but it's all part of survival here for the Inuit.
23:30This shark will feed Simi's dogs for weeks to come.
23:35This is a big head.
23:36How big is the rest of it?
23:37This could be the moment if the hole's big enough.
23:39Okay, ready?
23:42Head.
23:44Need to...
23:46Yes, is that coming?
23:48Yes, it started to come.
23:49I think it's...
23:52It's a good ten foot or so.
23:53I think there's still more to come.
24:00This is a perfect opportunity to further my investigation.
24:07It's out.
24:09It's a big animal.
24:10This is massive, this is huge.
24:11Let's have a look at it.
24:13It's a female.
24:15Very shark-like tail, that asymmetric tail.
24:19The fascinating thing about sharks that we always want to look at is the jaws, the teeth.
24:24And the Greenland shark has these very pointy teeth on the upper jaw, that's for gripping.
24:30But then on the lower jaw, you've got these almost square-shaped teeth with almost like a chisel blade on the end.
24:36They're definitely sharp.
24:38But are they sharp enough to attack and kill?
24:41The other thing here is the nostrils.
24:45Thinking of my baits in the context of this place, we're talking about a depth of water a couple of thousand feet deep.
24:52The bait is just a tiny speck in that immensity of water.
24:57And this managed to find it.
24:58And the way it found it is using its sense of smell.
25:01Simi starts to prepare cuts for his dogs.
25:05But the meat will have to be cured before they can eat it.
25:08High levels of urea make fresh Greenland shark meat toxic.
25:15This is my chance to find out how and what these sharks eat under the ice.
25:19So here's all the guts that's coming out.
25:25This is a halibut.
25:26This is quite a big halibut. There we go. That's the head.
25:30That's your chin.
25:32And look at that.
25:35That's part of somebody's fishing net.
25:37That's quite a big fish in there.
25:42What fish is this?
25:44It's a cod.
25:46Now, this is interesting.
25:47That might be a cod that died of natural causes and this came along and fed on it.
25:51Or they might actually take living fish.
25:56I'm wondering if Greenland sharks are more than just scavengers.
26:05So I need to find out what else they eat and how they eat it.
26:11But I'm not going to find those answers in this ice-covered sea.
26:14I've got to drop my line in more temperate waters.
26:27I'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.
26:34Tromsø is a fishing port with a long history of whaling and seal hunting.
26:41And today, this small island town is leading the way in the study of Arctic animals, including the Greenland shark.
26:48I head to the Arctic University where a team of scientists are trying to unlock the secrets of this elusive animal.
27:01Danish scientist Julius Nielsen made headlines with his cutting-edge research into aging these sharks.
27:16His study revealed that the largest and oldest Greenland sharks could be 400 years old or more.
27:21Meaning that some specimens alive today might have roamed the North Atlantic at the same time as the Mayflower.
27:32But Julius also has fascinating evidence on how Greenland sharks feed.
27:37And he's sure they have the tools to take out live prey.
27:41The teeth of the upper jaw is like a fork where it can hold the prey.
27:46And then in the lower jaw, it's like a razor blade. It's actually working like a knife.
27:51So when the shark does like this, and then it can make these circular wounds and circular chunks that they eat.
27:59So you're saying it would do almost like a 180 or, you know, it just does a spin?
28:04360 rotation actually is what I imagine that they can do.
28:07And Julius has the evidence to back up his theory.
28:11First, this picture, this is a beluga whales in an ice hole somewhere in the high Arctic.
28:17As you can see here, one of the whales has a very big circular wound.
28:21So that's definitely alive, isn't it? That's not a dead creature.
28:24No, exactly. This is a live whale that has a very, very distinct wound.
28:28So imagine that the shark gets a bite on here and then it just twists around, circular wound.
28:33And actually it's difficult to imagine any other animal in the Arctic that could cause this exact wound.
28:40It appears only Greenland sharks are capable of inflicting this type of injury.
28:45Julius also has photos of circular bites of seal flesh found inside Greenland shark's stomachs.
28:51If Greenland sharks take live prey and are capable of attacking creatures far larger than themselves, would they go after humans?
29:01I meet with Canadian marine biologist Chris Harvey-Clark, one of very few people in the world who have dived with these sharks.
29:18Have you ever felt that you might be on the menu or they might be thinking along those lines?
29:25When I first started diving with these animals, I had no idea what they were going to do.
29:28People sort of thought they were big sleepy catfish type animals that really were not particularly predatory, were not particularly curious.
29:36Well, it turns out that they do all kinds of things we never expected.
29:39Chris's rare footage shows just how close he got to these sharks in the St. Lawrence River in Canada.
29:48They will leave you and then they'll go out and they'll come around and they'll get back on your six o'clock position.
29:53They do it again and again and again. They want to come back and see just what's going on.
29:58And curiosity is a predator trait.
30:00Some of the encounters I've had have been incredibly scary, particularly bad visibility.
30:07When the animal encounters you despite your best efforts, I've got mirrors on my camera, my head's on a swivel and bang.
30:13That gives you pause and it also makes me think about how these animals actually can kill agile, smart prey.
30:24This is disturbing stuff. These sharks displayed no fear of Chris in the water.
30:30Perhaps they consider humans potential prey.
30:34Would these sharks attack?
30:37I need to get one on the end of a line.
30:40Only by doing battle with one of these beasts will I be able to get a sense of what it's capable of.
30:47Yes, yes!
31:00I'm in Arctic Norway, investigating the true nature of the mysterious Greenland shark.
31:08And I'm heading 150 miles south of Tromsø to the deep water fields around Andoja Island.
31:14I've discovered that there's more to this elusive shark than meets the eye.
31:26To find out if they pose any threat to people, I'm joining scientist Julius Nielsen and his team on the Vorgsfjord, where Greenland sharks congregate at this time of year.
31:43Morning.
31:44Morning.
31:45Good to see you.
31:46Good weather, eh?
31:47Yeah, nice.
31:48We're going to pool our resources to catch one of these sharks.
31:49My target will be a large adult for the most accurate gauge of this animal's power.
32:06And today's conditions are perfect.
32:09We need calm water to handle big sharks safely.
32:13However, the long-range forecast is not so good.
32:17An Arctic storm is on its way, so the pressure is on to catch a shark quickly.
32:24Boat captain Thor Eivind is a veteran of these expeditions and knows this fjord like the back of his hand.
32:37So this is a more sophisticated version of what I was using in Greenland.
32:41I mean, there it was a bit of chain on the end.
32:43You need metal down here by the bait because otherwise the shark's teeth are just going to chomp through it.
32:48So on the end of the wire we've got very thick nylon.
32:54Good to go?
32:55Yep.
32:56Using a rod and line to catch what could be a one-ton fish is a massive challenge.
33:01But it's my chance to finally see what this monster can do.
33:10This fjord plunges to a depth of 1,500 feet.
33:14My bait is a tiny speck in an impossible volume of water.
33:18After several hours, there are signs of activity.
33:28What do you reckon Thor Eivind? There's definitely something, isn't it?
33:31But does that look more like a small fish?
33:33Yeah.
33:34You see the rod making some movements there?
33:38Yeah, there it goes.
33:39Yeah, you see?
33:40There, there, there, there, definitely.
33:42But fishing at such enormous depths, it's difficult to read the signals.
33:47The only way to know for sure is to bring the line up.
33:50That feels like it might be something.
33:57Reeling in 1,500 feet of line can take 20 minutes of effort.
34:03I'm certainly quite curious to see what this bait looks like because it's definitely had a lot of attention from something.
34:11Oh, this might.
34:17Oh, yeah.
34:18So this is more like it.
34:19Yes.
34:21Something has bitten the bait in half.
34:26I think definitely a shark has caused this, but it's just not taking all the bait and didn't take the hook.
34:30Would you guess that's a smaller one or no way of saying?
34:33No way of saying.
34:34Right.
34:35That's a good sign.
34:36That's a good sign.
34:37Something has been...
34:38OK, right.
34:39It's confirmation that we're fishing in the right spot.
34:43But we're one day down with no shark.
34:46And we won't have good weather for long.
34:52The next day, we're back on the water.
34:55But the wind direction has changed.
34:58Cold Arctic air is sweeping in from the north.
35:01The storm is close.
35:07OK, got that?
35:08Yeah.
35:09After a couple of hours, I feel a pull on my line.
35:11Nice.
35:12That's it.
35:13OK, here we go.
35:14Just going to wind down.
35:16And this time, it feels bigger.
35:21Yes, eventually.
35:22Yes.
35:23Yes, yes.
35:24There is something.
35:26Just hang on to me, though.
35:28Thanks.
35:30Whatever is on the line, it's fighting.
35:32And bringing it up.
35:33And bringing it up is not easy from a wet, moving deck.
35:37There's definitely a weight on here.
35:38A considerable weight.
35:43The last time I landed a Greenland shark was in the middle of the night.
35:49An encounter in daylight will be far more revealing.
35:53But I can't relax for a second.
35:56I've probably got its head, the whole body tilting up at the moment.
36:00So if it actually beats its tail, it's helping its way to the surface.
36:04But if I pause to take a breath, if it gets its head down, suddenly my work's a lot harder.
36:12My arms are burning, but I've got to keep reeling.
36:16I may not get another chance.
36:19Yes, yes, here we go.
36:20It's on the surface.
36:21There it is.
36:22Wow.
36:37I'm in Norway on the trail of the Greenland shark.
36:40And something has taken my bait 1,500 feet under the boat.
36:45Yes, yes, here we go.
36:47It's on the surface.
36:48There it is.
36:49Wow.
36:50Yeah, exactly what we've been talking about.
36:53Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.
36:55This is interesting.
36:56This is very, very unusual.
36:57Even after 15 minutes on the line, this supposedly sluggish shark is thrashing with the energy more like I'd expect from a great white.
37:06This is surprising.
37:07I've never seen a Greenland shark before.
37:09With this kind of movement.
37:10Wow.
37:11I've never seen one this much alive.
37:13Normally they are slow and doors are really interesting.
37:16Wow.
37:18You want to try this?
37:19Yeah.
37:21A noose is secured around its tail to prevent the shark from spinning.
37:26Yeah.
37:27Yeah.
37:28Let's see.
37:32Look at that.
37:34How many?
37:35213, I've got.
37:36Yep.
37:37213.
37:39Seven feet long and weighing 250 pounds, I'm told it's a 40-year-old juvenile.
37:45Yeah.
37:46Can we let go?
37:49There we go.
37:50Off we go.
37:52Vertical.
37:54Seeing this energetic behaviour on the surface feels like a breakthrough in my investigation.
37:59That shark was definitely very much alive.
38:02It was smashing his tail back and forth.
38:05It surprised you, the activity?
38:07Definitely.
38:08I have never seen a Greenland shark with this kind of movements before.
38:11That was exactly what I was kind of hoping or expecting that they could do.
38:18This dramatic encounter suggests to me that this shark might be something of a Jekyll and Hyde character.
38:24A normally docile scavenger that can suddenly turn on the aggression.
38:30But we need to know more.
38:33Julius needs a larger shark to tag.
38:36And I need to do battle with a full-sized adult to see what power it can wield.
38:42We fish on.
38:49The hours pass with no further action on the line.
38:56When something does finally break the surface, it's big.
39:00But it's not a shark.
39:02Well, I've seen lots of strange things filming with the monsters, but this is definitely a first for me.
39:06Sitting in a boat and next thing you know there's a submarine appearing alongside.
39:11Wee!
39:19Seeing this submarine gets me thinking about what life must be like for Greenland sharks living at extreme depth under immense water pressure.
39:27This is an aluminium drinks bottle.
39:34Empty.
39:36Seal it up.
39:38When I say it's empty, I mean technically it's full of air, but air at one atmosphere of pressure.
39:42I'm going to throw this in the water.
39:44Actually, if I threw it in just like this it would float.
39:47So...
39:49A couple of big weights to take it down.
39:53And to record what happens to it.
39:57Waterproof camera here.
39:59Just set that running.
40:00A Greenland shark has been observed over 7,000 feet down from a robotic submersible.
40:08This experiment shows what happens at just a fraction of that depth and pressure.
40:14That's actually 100 feet.
40:22I'm going to stop it there and bring it up.
40:26That's the camera.
40:27That's the camera.
40:28And...
40:30There we go.
40:33This is a metal object that's been crushed at 100 feet.
40:37The Greenland shark in this fjord lived down at 1,500 feet, so where the pressure is actually 15 times what did that.
40:44As a land animal who occasionally splashes around in the shallows, it's just very hard to imagine what it's like living in a world without light with just such immense pressure.
40:59We fish on as the Arctic storm creeps ever closer.
41:02Looks like the weather forecast was right. It's continuing to deteriorate the weather.
41:17We've got a bit of rain starting now.
41:20It's really just hoping that we get something before it gets that much worse.
41:25But so far nothing... nothing really happening today.
41:28Just as I fear my window of opportunity is closing, a sign from the deep.
41:38Is that something? No?
41:47I strap in just in case.
41:50This is definitely my last chance to land something big.
41:54Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
41:55You have something?
41:56Yes!
41:58It's actually pulling.
42:00Oh, you're on my back. Somebody on that back. Somebody on this handle here.
42:04Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
42:06That's the rolling, it's rolling.
42:08Potentially dangerous because it rolls too far up that line.
42:15There's a very strong pull here. The way that the rod is levering me, and I've got feet on a slippery deck.
42:22I guess it's a couple of times I've just been quite worried about disappearing over the edge.
42:28There's no doubt that whatever is on my line has monstrous power.
42:32Here we go.
42:33Clean your back.
42:34Clean your back.
42:35Yep.
42:36Got it.
42:37Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
42:38I'm in Norway with what feels like a monster shark on the end of my line.
42:54Here we go.
42:55Lean your back.
42:56Lean your back.
42:57Lean your back.
42:58Yeah.
42:59Got it.
43:00There it is.
43:01Ah, yes.
43:02Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
43:04It's a white one.
43:06It's very white.
43:07Follow.
43:08It's a feisty one.
43:09It's a very feisty one.
43:10It's a very feisty one.
43:12It's a ten-foot Greenland shark.
43:14Where is the other end?
43:15Here.
43:16So it's a big male shark.
43:18We can see from the claspers that they are very well developed.
43:21Julius and I have just minutes to examine, tag and release this shark.
43:26The process punctures the thick skin but doesn't harm the animal.
43:32These satellite tags will record how far and how deep this shark swims over the next six months.
43:38For me, though, it's all about size and power.
43:43So this is the girth.
43:46So that is how wide around the body this animal is.
43:52I reckon this shark weighs around 700 pounds.
43:57Julius estimates it's roughly 200 years old.
44:02It's one of the biggest and certainly the oldest fish I've ever caught.
44:07It's truly awe-inspiring to look at this creature up close.
44:13A monster that few people ever see.
44:16And this daylight encounter has told me what I needed to know.
44:21Well, this is what I came to Norway for.
44:26What I wanted to see was a live Greenland shark in the daylight up on the surface so I could get a really good look at it.
44:34And also, the other thing was just feeling it on the line.
44:38The sharks that I pulled in didn't seem like docile scavengers.
44:42Their powerful bursts of energy were those of a beast that can react fast to moving prey.
44:48A hunter that knows its own strength and how to use it.
44:53Add to that the highly specialised teeth and you could be looking at a very capable predator.
44:59Today, we have made a significant step towards getting a much fuller picture of this very, very strange, elusive shark.
45:10But does the Greenland shark pose a threat to people in the water?
45:15Certainly, knowing what I know now, I'd think twice about jumping into the water with another one.
45:22This shark appears to have a temperament that can shift from unassuming scavenger to powerful killer in a heartbeat.
45:31And 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.
45:45We'll see you next time.
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