In search of the largest shark ever caught, named ‘Claimant’, the tracker reveals the secrets of the ‘fin meth’ mafia and the shark itself.

The largest great white shark ever recorded in the Atlantic has returned to the shores of Florida to serve up “love bites” with a belly full of seals.

Chris Fisher, founder of the research group OCEARCH, has been tracking “Contender” since capturing the 14-foot, 1,652-pound behemoth exactly one year ago on Jan. 17, 2025.

Fisher hopes that by tracking these apex predators, he will unlock all the secrets of the ocean so that “your great-grandchildren can eat fish sandwiches”.

The adventurer has had quite an exciting journey since he started tagging poachers in 2012, even with ties to Hong Kong’s “shark fin Mafia.”.

During an Africa campaign in 2014, OCEARCH inadvertently exposed a criminal poaching operation.

Fisher said, “We tagged over three dozen white sharks there. We were able to see that the shark fin mafia was poaching the sharks.

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“White sharks were disappearing in South Africa.

“next As you know, our great white sharks begin their migration east to Mozambique.

“And then one of them is killed and the tag is thrown on the ground in a village.”

More surprisingly, a team scientist discovered that the poaching scheme went beyond the shores of Africa when he was sent to retrieve the tags.

“They said the finning mafia was giving them gear and boats to be able to catch these big sharks.”

“So they killed the shark, brought it in, ate it and sent the fins to Hong Kong.

The most disturbing part was that they said they don’t get paid for the fins, but they get raw crystal meth material.

“They said, ‘We sell it to our community, and that’s how we monetize the Finns.'”

Fisher has to work not only against evil shark hunters but also to “undo what Jaws did” to people’s perceptions of the animals.

He believes that the shark research community has finally got Steven Spielberg back by helping younger generations understand the value of sharks through science.

“People over the age of 50 were influenced by Jaws. However, for today’s youth, Jaws no longer feels like a genuine film.”

Fisher explains that before this research began, the lack of data had created fear among people.

Before our work, shark incidents were the only stories because there was no data.

“And then you would just have one story and it would be about one incident. There were no additional stories until the next incident occurred.

“Now, stories about these sharks go around the world all the time.

“We are basically floating all the time, everywhere, and 99% of the time nothing happens to these animals.”

But white sharks have a fear factor that helps control ocean populations.

“They’re system managers. Fischer explained that white sharks are apex predators, similar to lions and wolves.

“They keep the system thriving and they take it to maximum abundance just by their presence.….

“If the white sharks aren’t there, all those seals eat four times more than they should every day and they destroy our fisheries.

“Where the lion is moving, there is game in abundance. If the lion is not moving, you have a problem with the system.”

For Fisher, Contender’s return to Florida is an opportunity to open up shark research wider.

As a fully mature male of approximately 30 years of age, it is hoped that the claimant will help achieve OCEARCH’s mission of uncovering the world’s first known mating site.

Their migration maps show that mature male white sharks follow a simple annual rhythm.

In the summer and autumn, the fearsome predators head north and feed on the seals, gaining weight so they can survive the coming months.

In the winter, they move south to warmer waters, where researchers believe mating takes place out of sight of humans.

Fisher explained: “Mating is violent. The male has to bite the female to gain control. It’s a high-risk activity.”

Once mating is successful, Fisher and his researchers believe that larger females move away from the coast to conceive in relative safety while avoiding the attention of males.

“They just want to eat food, be left alone and live a low-risk lifestyle.

“Next May or June, they will travel to their ‘shark nursery’ – New York and Jersey Bite – to abandon their puppies.

Tracking mature animals like Contender allows researchers to watch this process in real time, which was impossible a decade ago.

Capturing and tagging a shark of Contender’s size is a carefully choreographed operation.

Elite fishermen then trap the animal and transport it safely to the research vessel, keeping stress to a minimum.

Fisher said, “The idea is to get these animals to the scientist with as low a stress level as possible. Zero stress is perfection.”

The shark is lifted into a custom cradle while scientists race through more than two dozen research studies.

This is where the team uses “learnt helplessness”.

Fisher describes it as “like a baby does when you swaddle him and then he gives up and stops crying. It’s learnt helplessness.”

“It’s the same thing with sharks. So if they believe they can get away, they’ll continue to try.

“But if they believe they can’t, they’ll give up. So what we do is like teaching a dog how to heel.”

Blood samples are taken, measurements are recorded and tags are secured within 15 minutes before the shark is released back into the ocean unharmed.

Fischer knew right away that the claimant was “extraordinary.”

He said, “When you find a shark like this, you go ‘wow’, this is a particularly unique shark.

“We knew immediately that Contender was special, but getting to this point required massive investment and years of pioneering work.

“It cost us two and a half million dollars to tag the first five animals in 2012.

“However, after tracking those five animals for a few years, we used the next two and a half million dollars to tag 27 more.”

Fisher also emphasises the importance of humans monitoring these sharks to ensure food security.

When the powerful whites patrol the colonies to seal them off, they exercise control over the population.

Without them, seals eat more fish than the ecosystem can carry, causing young fish in the ocean to die out before they reach maturity.

“They are the protectors of our fish,” Fisher explained.

Their mere presence alters behaviour in the food chain, allowing reefs, fisheries and coastal ecosystems to recover and thrive.

This management approach has led to a major ecological change in the United States.

“Now in the United States, we are in the midst of a spectacular return to abundance.”

“There are more fish and life on our East and West Coasts now than there have been in the last 50 years,” Fisher says.

He attributes this to aggressive management and science-driven policy.

“Fortunately in the United States, we had a major turning point in 1994… wherein the state of Florida, the public voted for a constitutional amendment to ban inshore gillnets.

“And here we are, 30 years later. And now every species of fish in Florida is out of the overfished category. Not a single one.”

That’s why Fisher believes shark conservation is an absolute environmental necessity.

He said, “If you can’t manage apex predators, you can’t manage the system. And if you can’t manage the system, you can’t feed your people.”

looking towards the future He hopes to export this success to the rest of the world.

“We now have a playbook. We know how to bring the ocean back. Any country in the world that wants to manage its ocean can now use our playbook to do so.

“It took years of science and trying different policies. And now we have a playbook that we know works.

“We want to share it around the world.”