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 Stewart, 37, went missing on Tuesday after a deepwater dive
to retrieve an anchor. His dive partner collapsed after
returning to the boat, while Stewart, who signaled he was OK
when he surfaced, later disappeared, his parents said.
"If anybody can survive in the water, it is him," Brian Stewart,
his father said in a telephone interview, adding his son was
"super fit" and a highly skilled scuba diver.
"A bunch of the people in the boat gave their attention to the
guy who collapsed and a minute later they turned, and Rob was
gone. They haven’t seen him since," he said.
At the time of the incident, Stewart was filming a documentary
called "Sharkwater: Extinction," which he was aiming to show at
the Toronto International Film Festival later this year, his
parents said.
The U.S. Navy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Florida
wildlife officials, a county sheriff's office and civilian
volunteers have joined the Coast Guard in the search for
Stewart, using ships, helicopters, airplanes, dive teams and
sonar equipment, the Coast Guard said.
"We would not still be searching for him if we could not find
him alive," said Petty Officer Eric Woodall, a Coast Guard
spokesman.
Aerial and sea-based searches are planned for Friday if he is
still missing.
His mother, Sandy Stewart, said support was pouring in from all
over the world.
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Rob Stewart's 2006 documentary "Sharkwater" was aimed at exposing
the shark hunting industry that was feeding demand for fins, a
delicacy in Chinese cuisine. The hunting has ravaged shark
populations and the film was part of a campaign that helped persuade
some governments to crack down on finning.
With finning, typically the fins are cut off and the live shark is
tossed back into the sea. Unable to swim properly, the shark
suffocates or is killed by predators.
Stewart said his new film was looking at other ways that as many as
80 million sharks were being harvested each year for items ranging
from cosmetics to pet food.
"Sharks are sophisticated, intelligent and often shy creatures that
aren’t interested in eating humans," he said in a video seeking
funding for his new movie.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Andrew Hay
and Peter Cooney)
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