A MALVERN man is looking to expose the “dark and brutal realities” of the shark finning industry with a new documentary film.

Dave Charley, who grew up in Malvern, now lives in Mozambique and runs a film and photography company specialising in underwater imagery.

Together with fellow Englishmen Chris Scarffe and Aaron Gekoski, he has produced the one-hour film entitled Shiver.

Making the film was no easy task, as the trio had to risk perilous seas and filming conditions, the wrath of angry fishermen and the repercussions of exposing an industry that has links to the Chinese mafia.

However Mr Charley said all the efforts had been worth it, with the film already stirring up a big reaction and receiving air-time on Mozambican TV.

He explained that the finning trade and demand for shark fin soup is decimating shark populations across the world as well as in Mozambique, and threatening the survival of a species that has occupied the planet for 420 million years.

“In Mozambique, like many countries the world over, local fishermen are paid handsomely for supplying middlemen with dried shark fins - the fishermen oblivious to what the fins are used for,” he said. “Coupled with increasingly sophisticated boats and fishing techniques, the demand for shark fin soup has ensured that we have lost an estimated 90 per cent of sharks in the last 50 years, with 30 per cent of species now listed as endangered or critically endangered.

“Three sharks a second are being killed, many having their fins sliced off while still alive.”

To see a trailer of Mr Charley’s film, search for Shiver trailer Mozambique on YouTube.