Occasionally a special book appears that makes you sit up and reconsider your understanding of the world, or at least a part of it. The True Nature of Sharks is such a book. It echoes the way that Diane Fossey and Jane Goodall forced us to completely reassess how we perceived the great apes, our closest relatives. While sharks may be only a very distant relative, Porcher’s book is no less revolutionary, in that it forces us to reassess how we perceive and understand sharks. Her work is instrumental in firmly shifting our understanding of sharks away from the obsolete trope of sharks as killing machines. Instead she portrays them as intelligent, predictable individual animals capable of so much more than generally assumed.
Through the ages sharks gained a largely unquestioned reputation as frightening predators just waiting to eat anything and anybody entering the watery realms. Modern history reinforced these tropes with stories of pilots and sailors being attacked during the war years and of all oceans users being at constant risk. This was exemplified in Peter Benchley’s “Jaws”, a book he later expressed regret about writing for the way it maligned sharks. Through these influences, sharks, like all creatures that take humans as incidental prey, have become perceived as creatures that reflect our deepest primeval inbred fears of consumption by wild beasts, as mindless, aggressive predators, without exception.
Porcher turns the entire trope on its head. Several years of living on the beautiful Polynesian island of Moorea enabled her to closely observe several species of reef sharks in their habitat. She has managed to combine her observations into a fascinating and ground breaking book which forces us to completely reassess how we see sharks. Through careful record keeping and categorisation of the ethology – the study of formal behaviour patterns of animals observed in wild conditions – she shares the reality of how these remarkable animals exhibit behaviours that go far beyond our common assumptions of sharks.
From her first unexpected encounters with sharks in these beautiful fringing lagoons, Porcher learns that sharks are individuals with personalities, memories and yes, even a consciousness that combine to turn conventional wisdom on its head. We are clearly shown that sharks are everything but the natural born killers that popular media make them out to be. Even after years of intimate interaction with these sharks, feeding them, observing them and spending what must amount to many hundreds of hours in the water with them she never felt inordinately threatened by the behaviour of these fascinating creatures.
She tells of the tragic consequences of a visit from a shark finning fleet through the area. This event clearly illustrates how conventional wisdom of sharks being a danger to humans is not just wrong but antithetical. The reality is that it is people who kill an estimated 70 million sharks every year, mainly to feed shark fin soup to high-rolling Chinese diners, or to supply fish and chip shops “flake”, the commercial name for shark. Sharks also fall victim in massive numbers as bycatch in commercial nets and longlines, only to be discarded as bycatch.
Consequently sharks have seen catastrophic declines with several species on IUCN lists of endangered species. For Porcher this reality was brutally driven home when many of the sharks she was familiar with disappeared, never to return after Singapore shark fin fishing companies moved through the area. Through her work shark finning was banned throughout French Polynesia.
But where Porcher’s brilliance really shines through is in her patient recording of how sharks behave in the wild. She takes these observations and manages to clearly communicate these interactions to illustrate the consciousness and individuality of sharks. As she gradually became familiar with the resident sharks, she named each one through its patterning, nicks and marks or behaviour. Her assiduous collection data and observations of each shark, when it was seen, how it behaved, how they interacted with other sharks and fish are never allowed to become a fusty scientific record but rather evolve into a living diary of how these sharks are an intrinsic link in the life of the reef and of the region.
This book is an invaluable record that shows how these sharks return to their familiar territories after mating in the open ocean, time and again. More revealingly it shows how these sharks recognise and interact with her upon return and how the personalities of individual sharks shine through by their unique behaviour patterns.
While she clearly grows fond of the sharks her observations never fall into the trap of anthropomorphism - providing them human characteristics to other species where none exist. Instead she builds a solid repertoire of observed animal behaviour and how they form an intrinsic part of a much larger web of life. She points out how disruptions, such as the visit of the shark finners or of sport fishermen, have massive impacts on the behaviour of sharks in an area and consequently on the entire web of life that interacts with the sharks.
This book is further enhanced by beautiful illustrations. Porcher uses her considerable artistic talent and shares some of her remarkable paintings and drawings of sharks. She has also employed clever techniques to foreground the sharks she has photographed that enables them to stand out against a background that they are naturally suited to blend into. These pictures show behaviour that we are fortunate to be able to share through this medium.
The True Nature of Sharks is a must buy for anybody who finds beauty and wonder in the web of life. It is logically laid out and the narrative flows well and provides an easy read, an important task in communicating non-fiction to the layman. Sharks have fairly recently begun to be appreciated by many as the fascinating creatures they are. A growing industry now attracts tourists to observe, dive and interact with them in sites around the world.
Porcher stands out as a pioneer in being able to give voice and logic to our growing appreciation of these fascinating and ancient creatures. She shares how these keystone species keep our oceans in balance and how even traditionally feared species like Tiger and Bullsharks are able to form unique bonds with humans, showing adaptation was not considered possible. Porcher is the first person to enable us to get under their skin in order to appreciate the beauty of how this species has evolved over hundreds of millennia.
We still have much to learn about the complexity and interconnectedness of life. We are truly fortunate to have people like Ila France Porcher share their important stories with the world about how these maligned creatures display behaviours that are completely at odds with what was previously considered possible.
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Ashton has spent most of his life around the world’s oceans, working on fishing vessels and sailing around the world, surfing and diving. He is fortunate to have visited and dived in the waters of Moorea where this book is largely based and become familiar with the sharks of this archipelago, amongst others. He holds a Masters degree in environmental management and is working toward completing his PhD.
Of the first edition of The Shark Sessions, Dr. Brian W. Darvell, formerly of the University of Hong Kong, wrote :
This is a quite remarkable story, and clearly of value in several respects. The observations and accounts of shark behaviour are unprecedented - the hours in the water, the number of individuals identified, the activity documented in such detail - and indicate a huge investment of time and effort, but for no other reason than to observe for its own sake. This is like a natural history tale from another era, where notes are kept without a mercenary eye on the future, where grant applications and immediate value are not the motivators. It was observations of this kind that drove Darwin. The story develops steadily from that into something darker: the effects of finning on a major component of a reef system, but more important is the fact that this is not just a local event, the shark ranges are clearly very large. The implications are profound, and must inform the continuing efforts to ban shark fin soup everywhere.
Sara Howard, rocket scientist and author, wrote of The Shark Sessions:
I have read this book several times. It gets better and better each time I read it. I have to say that this book belongs in every College & University that studies Marine Biology. This information is ground-breaking and should be read by those interested in Sharks and more. The information is captivating. Any reader will enjoy this immensely. Ila’s artwork is fabulous and should be displayed in all Marine connected facilities.
I was outraged at what I read [about the sharks being finned]. I don't know how Ila could stand this. She is a woman of great courage and compassion. She is also a wonderful artist and travels all over the world for art shows. She is considered one of the world's experts on sharks.
Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch, author in the UK, wrote :
This is a grand book -- grand in the sweep of its themes about her local sharks and the other Polynesian wildlife and also about island life. But it is also a timely and realistic book : the author does not flinch from recording the shadows, shadows that darken even into tragedy. Other reviewers have unanimously given this book five stars - and so do I !
Katrienne Vandevelde, shark advocate, Belgium, wrote :
While the book is extremely important as a resource for shark behavior research, it is also a pleasure to indulge in the story and experience the extraordinary interaction between this woman and a population of sharks.
Lynn Kirk, shiatsu therapist, Canada, wrote :
"The Shark Sessions" has given me insight into an underwater world I did not know before. The author, Ila France Porcher, dedicated to all living creatures, travels into worlds unknown by most. She lets us know what it's like to be a shark, a sea turtle etc. I found her book riveting. In the detailed accounts of her experiences getting to know her sharks, I found an excellent balance between descriptive passages, and an ability to give the readers a sense not only of being there but caring increasingly more deeply for each of these fish on an individual basis. This, of course, is why some books are not only good but great. I will read it over and over and one day if I'm lucky may see a fraction of this underwater world Ila has opened up for me.
Mary Chipman, shark advocate, New York, wrote :
Ila France Porcher has written a beautiful and moving book about her experience in identifying and befriending hundreds of black fin reef sharks over a period of seven years. She brings curiosity, courage, an artist's keen eye and an extraordinary visual memory to the task of painstakingly identifying each individual by drawing its dorsal fin on both sides. She builds her story slowly, letting you experience the joy of getting to know her sharks as she experienced it, taking you with her as she paddles her scrap-laden kayak into the lagoon at sunset, alone, in fair weather and foul.
When she began her study, she assumed that "the experts" already knew everything about the sharks she was observing, and was startled to learn that even basic information was missing, or incorrect when her first-hand observations told her otherwise. As a result, she was able to provide the detailed data she had collected to marine scientists, making a significant contribution to shark cognition studies. I have never heard of any individual who has studied the same group of sharks in the wild over such a long period of time.
The book was written as a tribute to her sharks, who were finned for the brutal shark fin soup trade. You can't read it and be unmoved at the horrible end that befell these beautiful, intelligent creatures, and not feel in some small measure the extent of the grief that Ila felt when she paddled out to her empty lagoon night after night, hoping that her friends might somehow return.
Sharks of all species are instrumental in maintaining the ecological balance of our oceans, and thus to life on earth as we know it. Humans talk about finding and communicating with life forms on other planets as we heedlessly annihilate species on our own world due to our own ignorance and greed. "The Shark Sssions: My Sunset Rendezvous" meticulously dismantles the media-fed hysteria about sharks as mindless killers, leaving one with both deep sadness for all of the sharks who have been slaughtered, and hope that we can change course before it is too late, both for the sharks and for ourselves.
Annette Harvill, USA, wrote :
If anyone has not read Ila France Porcher's book, The Shark Sessions, now in its second edition, buy it. It is an amazing story of Ila swimming with the sharks, getting to know each one of them, and recording their lives. Ila made history by discovering how sensitive sharks are when approached properly. . .
Amanda P. Barratt, shark advocate in South Africa,
published this in Beyond Blue:
The Shark Sessions | My Sunset Rendezvous
Rating: Excellent
Ila France Porcher is celebrated for her wildlife art, her shark activism, her gentle curiosity and respect for all life forms, her long-term ethological studies of sharks conducted both formally and informally, and for being the driving force behind the 2009 campaign ‘The Year of the Shark’, which aimed to increase global awareness of the crisis that looms with the decline in shark populations. The publication of her first book My Sunset Rendezvous, which I had the privilege of commenting on, is imminent.
From 1995 until 2009, Ila France Porcher gradually established never before achieved intimacy with reef sharks who inhabited the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia. Time and time again, she paddled her kayak out to immerse herself in the life of the lagoon, reef, and ocean there, forming friendships, conducting studies, drawing, photographing, and most of all, forming intimate relationships, with sharks, becoming part of what can only be described as a network of social beings. She got to know each shark, identified by idiosyncratic markings and dorsal fin ‘fingerprints’, and documented her experiences, the rapid decline in the population of sharks frequenting the area, and her tumultuous battle to save these reef sharks. This record of her life in Tahiti has now become her book, My Sunset Rendezvous.
My Sunset Rendezvous begins with Ila and her husband departing the pervasive Canadian winters for the island of Tahiti in the South Pacific Ocean. Ila is quite isolated as she and her husband establish a new life in Tahiti and inviting island life begins to take on its typical connotations. In awe of the sheer natural splendour around her, she ventures into the surrounding lagoon and reef. The relatively intact ecosystems provide her with much fascination, and many subjects to feed her creative outlet. Inevitably, she comes upon sharks and her curiousity overcomes her initial fears of them (as provided by popular media), and her journey and documentation of the sharks begins.
She is faced with information regarding the escalating shark finning industry, which sets its sights on Tahiti’s shark populations. Thus, she joins the fight for their protection as she continues to record her encounters and rendezvous’ with individual sharks, at different ‘sites’ around Tahiti. She names and identifies each shark she encounters and begins to identify patterns in their visits and relationships between individual sharks begin to emerge, as do hints regarding their cognition. It is then that Ila begins to connect with other ethologists and scientists across the world, to compare her observations and obtain clarification, and she begins to build a set of assumptions about sharks that transcend what is commonly thought. She contributes her observations on shark cognition and other aspects of shark ethology, and is eventually contacted by the BBC who indicates an interest in producing a documentary about her sharks, for the Discovery Channel. She is elated that her discoveries about sharks will be broadcast to the world, but the documentary becomes a severe misrepresentation of the sharks and Ila’s work with them, and is a clear indication that the media will essentially go to any lengths to attract viewers.
Scores of positives exist in this book for me, but the spotlight must fall on Ila’s writing style, and superb and appealing integration of personal narrative and science. Ila attempts to describe the species she encounters in detail and scientific names are provided. Unhindered by media and disabling opinions, she carries an open mind and attempts to investigate on her own, and even with access to a very thin scientific database in Tahiti, she attempts to research as much as possible about each animal she encounters. The reader is also fortunate to be provided with many illustrations by Ila herself.
I am of the opinion that the book will suit various types of audiences – while it contains a lot of science, Ila does not fling complex language at the reader, nor is the book saturated with scientific thought; indeed the book can be described as anything but flat. Upon my initial read, I could only describe Ila’s descriptions as vivid; she attempts to record every colourful detail and her descriptions of individuals, the landscape, and ultimately her emotions, are deep in intriguing detail, and the reader is simply transported to Tahiti; she once told me that she wanted the reader to be there with her, and this she has certainly achieved. Her conscientious attempt and ability to record particulars of images and personalities are successful, and this is magnified by the illustrations and photographs incorporated into the text. They provide an artistic glimpse and interesting detail, and certainly marry the content of the book effectively. The self- portraits that depict both her developing relationships and feelings for her sharks surely do sing to the shark lover’s soul, and reflect the personalities of the individuals.
While there are many (and the book is dense due to emphasis on detail and the sheer length of Ila’s time in Tahiti), I enjoyed the short, succinct, but detailed chapters and the flow and composition of information, and constant reference to previous individual sharks as the reader becomes more familiar with each one, and each chapter serves its purposed of detailing chronologically, events in Tahiti, and mirrors Ila’s attempt to provide emphasis of individual animals. The chapters thus link well and retain the common thread of her experiences and purpose.
Ila’s ability to capture the depth of emotion and experiences she encounters becomes something of a downside too. As citizens of Earth are bombarded with cruelty on a daily basis, My Sunset Rendezvous is not without description of the extensive cruelty Ila encounters. I often felt myself in need of respite; certainly, the sentimental reader will be moved to tears. The devastating effects of the gradual loss and abuse of her shark friends is felt by the reader. To put the evidence of shark intelligence and cognition into perspective through comparison with other species, Ila weaves in some unusual stories of injured and ill marine animals and birds, including a considerable flock of cock fighting victims and a turtle she rehabilitated over the years. These animals too are subject to cruelty, which Ila does not restrain herself from describing. She often has to deal with the islanders’ ignorance of wild animals, and the reader identifies with her constant state of despair over the hierarchical relationship between humans and animals.
Feeling as passionate as I do about sharks, their ethology and conservation, I have to confess that in my initial reading and assisting with the editing of My Sunset Rendezvous, I had an ulterior motive to drive the fulfillment and precision of Ila’s book, once she had briefly relayed her story to me. Very often, I am driven to the longstanding argument that shark conservation is so important due to the fact that the removal of apex predators has the effect of upsetting the delicate balance and their ecological niche within our oceans, as observers are never able to comprehend the sincere depth of my feelings and fascination for sharks. Ila’s book made me go one step further in celebrating shark behaviour; I am now steadfast in my opinion that this documentation of her experiences is the first of its kind, and can form the basis of studies in alternative ways of studying certain sharks. I am not naïve to think that all sharks can be studied in this fashion, and the reverse stands that we cannot lump all families of sharks in the same together. However, Ila’s documentation of the relationships she established with the sharks provides the basis for scientific study, and lends itself to the ever-extending thought amongst recreational divers, those for a love of the oceans, and thankfully a burgeoning group of scientists, that there is more to sharks than meets the fearful human eye. Nevertheless, no other studies have gone this far to document longitudinally, (albeit informally to some degree) shark behaviour, nor have any made such startling discoveries about the plasticity of shark behaviour.
Ila France Porcher’s book echoes the twist of the knife that those of us who love and respect sharks feel as we witness the worldwide decline in shark populations, mainly for the harvesting of their fins. Each of her sharks becomes a friend of ours. Her ability to characterise each shark with unselfish perspective and as much scientific perspective as she could take in the circumstances places the reader in the lagoon and brings to life sharks in a way that only those of us who love these creatures so deeply will hope others will understand. Each shark truly becomes a character; each is no automaton, as popular media will have us believe sharks are.
Amanda P. Barratt