Local eco hero in new show aiming to change perception of sharks

MIAMI – As the world’s shark population continues to rapidly decline, Hollywood is now looking to makeover the image of the ocean’s apex predator.

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Even “Jaws” director Steven Spielberg has gone on the record regretting the negative light he cast on them.

Now, a new Netflix show hopes to also inspire the world to save our sharks, not fear them and hunt them down, and one of the stars is a local eco hero.

Miami Beach’s own MJ Algarra is a contestant on the brand-new Netflix reality show “All the Sharks.”

“Our whole mission during the show was to find all the sharks,” said Algarra. “The show took us to six different countries to do what we love, which is swimming with sharks and finding sharks and seeing the ocean and different ecosystems.”

Right before the big series premiere, Local 10 News’ Louis Aguirre met up with Algarra at the Frost Science Museum in downtown Miami, the perfect place to debrief Algarra on her global sharky adventure.

“For a little kid to come here and see this hammerhead, how important is that?” asked Aguirre.

“It is very important because, for one, they’re going to stop fearing it, they’re going to see it, and they might fall in love and end up being in conservation, just like I did,” she replied.

If Algarra looks familiar, she should.

Over the years, the local eco hero has been featured in several Don’t Trash Our Treasure stories as the founder and CEO of Clean This Beach Up, a volunteer organization she founded in 2019 after visiting her childhood beach in Colombia only to find it littered with debris.

“At the end of the day, it is not our trash, but it is our planet,” she said. “Going back to my roots and my country and seeing that impact that we’ve created throughout not even 20 years, it breaks my heart. So I decided to create Clean This Beach Up and that beach, that one experience, is what made this all happen.”

Hundreds of cleanups and over 11,000 volunteers later, Algarra’s Clean This Beach Up has helped remove a virtual garbage dump of trash from our marine environment.

“We picked up over 100,000 pounds,” she said.

Her love of the ocean and impressive social media feed made her a natural cast member for the Netflix series. It’s a “Survivor”-like competition show where teams battle it out to find and photograph as many different species of sharks and rays as possible.

But for Algarra, it was never just about finding all the sharks; it’s about saving them.

“It’s basically a conservation show,” she said. “We’re trying to create awareness about sharks and kind of change the perspective that sharks are mindless monsters (and) human eaters to what they really are, which is just another fish trying to survive.

“For me, sharks represent resilience.”

Algarra points out that sharks have been in our ocean for 450 million years and have survived five mass extinctions only to meet their most formidable foe, which is humans.

“We are their apex predator, the ones that are running their populations to the ground,” she said. “Sharks kill seven to 10 people a year. We’re killing millions of them, 11,000 per hour, pretty much. How does that make any sense?”

Recent data shows global shark populations have declined by over 70% in the past 50 years alone due to overfishing and the insatiable fin market.

That’s alarming because sharks are the doctors of the sea.

“And their job is to remove animals that are hurt or sick, to balance out our ecosystems,” said Algarra.

Simply put, if our sharks die, our oceans die.

Algarra stresses there’s no need to fear them. They are always there, sometimes swimming among us, as recent South Beach drone videos show us, peacefully co-existing.

“Sharks, they don’t want to eat us,” said Algarra. “We do not look like their food, we do not taste like their food. It’s very hard to interact with a shark unless you have food for them.”

Algarra won’t say how many sharks she found on the show but encourages all who watch to keep an open mind and an open heart, and help reform the image of this awesome apex predator from villain to guardian of the sea.

“I want people to see how beautiful these animals are, different shapes, sizes, colors, behaviors, and to stop being afraid,” she said. “Little things the ocean gives you, can change your whole perspective.”

On the show, the team that documents the most sharks and rays wins a $50,000 donation to the charity of their choice.

For Algarra, that would be her nonprofit, Clean This Beach Up.

She won’t say if she won ― you’ll have to tune in to find out.

“All the Sharks” is streaming right now on Netflix.


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