Shark Week's Tom "Blowfish" Hird on His Quest to Find a 6,000-Pound Shark

The marine biologist talks the ramifications of finding the larger-than-life fish.

By Patrick Cavanaugh - July 3, 2024 11:13 am EDT

While a majority of shark species are relatively small and might not even surpass the scale of other fish, part of what has captivated the excitement of so many Shark Week enthusiasts is the staggering size some shark species grow to be. The whale shark is undeniably the biggest fish in the ocean, but the great white shark not only comes in close behind the whale shark's size, while its reputation as being one of the most lethal hunters in the animal kingdom makes it all the more fascinating. In his latest Shark Week special, marine biologist Tom "Blowfish" Hird hopes to confirm the existence of such a massive great white. Discovery Channel's Shark Week kicks off on Sunday, July 7th and on Tuesday, July 9th, Hird hosts 6,000lb. Shark.

The new special is described, "Marine Biologists Tom 'Blowfish' Hird and Leigh de Necker go searching for the fattest Great White Sharks off the coast of New Zealand and attempt to obtain their poop to study what they are eating. Using cutting-edge science, they aim to weigh a great white accurately for the first time, revealing if they can reach a staggering 6,000 pounds."

ComicBook caught up with Hird to talk his new special, the questions he gets asked most often, and more.

(Photo:
Tom "Blowfish" Hird in Shark Week 2024
- Discovery)

ComicBook: When it comes to your career and your work with sharks, a two-part question, and it might actually be the same answer for both parts, but what is the question that you get asked the most and what is the question you just really wish you'd never had to answer again?

Tom "Blowfish" Hird: I suppose it probably is one and the same. From the non-shark community, the question that I certainly feel I get asked the most is about Megalodon. "Is Megalodon still around?" And no, just no. We've got tons of fossilized proof and evidence and we've got living proof that Megalodon isn't here, which is down to the fact that we have predatory toothed whales. So yeah, that's the question, it's like, "Oh, is Megalodon still..." It's like, "No, no, no, sunshine. Calm down." It's like, "Oh, well, I think..." It's like, "I don't care what you think, sunshine. You've read something online and you're passing it off? Now, who posted that online? Was it someone wearing a tinfoil hat? Was it someone who's never seen the light of day? Or is it the marine biologist with a fabulous beard telling you to sit down, hush up, and watch Shark Week?"

Honestly, I love that whatever crowds you are running with, that is the question that comes up, as opposed to, "Are sharks really that scary?" They're immediately going to, "Is this prehistoric shark actually still out there?"

The dumbest question I ever got asked, though, this was when I was very young and it was one of my first jobs, I was working as an aquarium assistant, so I was telling people about the animals. You get the idea, aquarium tour guide. And we're in the tunnel underneath the shark tank, and this one bloke pointed up at these sharks swimming around. And I won't do the accent, because it probably won't translate, but he pointed up at the sharks like, "Excuse me, mate, are they real?" I went, "Are you real? No, we've just paid a million pounds for a completely amazing animatronic shark, which is somehow electronically powered, swimming around in saltwater, which is obviously a terrible conductor for electricity. But don't worry about that, mate, we've covered all those areas of physics for you to pay your cash money to watch son of Johnny 5 with a fin, swimming around in a tank of water, when we could have gotten a shark for cheaper." But I didn't say that, I said, "Yes, sir, it is." And then chewed through my molars.

Well, as a former aquarium presenter myself, someone asked me, "How long do the penguins live?" And when I gave them an answer, they said, "And is that in penguin years?" I was like, "I know what you mean, but I don't want to honor that. Rotations around the sun, that's what we're talking about."

Oh, yeah. I mean, sometimes you'll get a question so dumb you'll be like, "Oh, I think you've just given me brain cancer." And yeah, you get a question that shortens your lifespan and you think, "Oh, I could just go and play in traffic instead of speaking to you."

Something that's interesting and, especially with sharks as compared to some other species out there, is it is an ever-growing base of knowledge. I literally got an email about an article I wrote last year for Shark Week, where I mentioned there's roughly 350 species of shark, people emailing me saying, "Actually, now there's 500." What is it like for you to work in a field where that knowledge base is always expanding and growing? Is it at all frustrating or is it just exciting that it's always changing?

Well, for me, I just love it. I'm always excited about it. I don't know if that's from my own career to the extent that I am, well, your friendly neighborhood marine biologist. There are many, many people out there who are far higher up the pecking order in terms of the research they've done, the papers they've done holding professorships, and all those kinds of stuff. And all I want to do is learn from those people, listen to them, hear what they've got to say. If I say something that isn't right and they say, "Oh no, actually, it's this," then that, for me, is a learning opportunity and that's great. So I'm not frustrated by that.

There might be some people who potentially think of themselves as the oracle on these things. And they go, "Oh no, actually, I think you'll find..." You're like, "Mate, it's a movable feast." But the fact that we're still digging into just everything about sharks, not just the biology, but the life history, the species, all that stuff, it just highlights how little we know, not just about them, but about our oceans.

Even here and now, you've got Elon Musk. When he is not trashing social media or building trucks that look like they wouldn't withstand a strong breeze, you've got him saying, "Let's go to Mars." Like, "No, no, no, mate, why don't you try and go to the bottom of the ocean first, then let's go to Mars."

"But please, do not design it yourself. Please let other people."

God, no. Yeah, oh dear. It would be like he'd have a plastic bottle with "Tesla" written on the side, probably not even spelled correctly, in black fountain pen. And he'd be like, "Look what I've made." Like, "Elon, go back in the sandpit buddy. Everyone likes you for looking like a really distressed Muppet that's been left out in the rain. Now, back of the line."

Getting back to Shark Week, your special is about the quest for a 6,000-pound shark. Other than finding out that a shark that big could really exist, could really get to be that size, what do you think are the ramifications of the discovery of such a creature, that you're not just doing it just to do it, but how would that then impact the scientific community in shark research?

Well, if we could get some really, really good, very solid evidence on the terms of those larger, established, veteran sharks around the world, then that gives us a better idea of their population structure. We've seen, it's been proven time and time again that sharks, in whatever ecosystem they inhabit, sharks are vitally important for the health of that ecosystem. So the more we know about their population structure, the more that can tell us of, "Well, if these sharks are here in this place, we know how their presence or their absence will affect this place." That has their knock-on effects, not just in terms of conservation, but we do have to think of things on a more industrial scale. You think, "Okay, well, we know that if there are sharks here, then the fishery industry is better here. Okay, we need to protect these sharks for this fishery industry."

Or we'll know, "Right, we've got some big sharks here. We need to protect this area for these months of the year for them to breed," or whatnot. So getting an idea, the range we're looking at isn't from here to here, but from here to here, that changes the game. You are like, "Oh, right, okay, we need to be thinking bigger, because a bigger animal has bigger impacts. It has bigger demands, bigger needs. It has bigger outputs in terms of not just carbon sequestration and its impacts on food webs, but also in terms of its reproductive abilities."

It's a big deal, literally a big deal, so if we can get together those bits and pieces and say, "Yes, we can say that this shark at this age, at this length will weigh..." That is something that can be used very, very strongly in terms of conservation policy, fisheries policy, and direct scientific research.

Last year you had Cocaine Sharks. This year you've got 6,000lb. Shark. Do you know what's on deck for 2025, the special you'd really like to explore?

Oh, there's so many I would like to do. There's so many. But there might be a new Zelda game out next year and you've got to have priorities for this thing.

But no, there are loads of specials I would like to do. There's loads of different things I'd like to check out, and so many different places we can go as well. The sweet shop or the candy store, as you guys will say, is wide open and it's a free-for-all, if you ask the Blowfish. I'm ready to tuck in and chow down.

Shark Week kicks off on the Discovery Channel on Sunday, July 7th. 6,000lb. Shark premieres on the Discovery Channel on Tuesday, July 9th at 9 p.m. ET.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You can contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter.

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