Hendrik S. Schmitt, Claudia Schmitt
Every year, hundreds of thousands of blue sharks are caught for their fins – many of them juveniles, as we were able to document during an investigative filming trip with the NGO Elasmocean to Spain.
This is the harsh reality of the shark fin trade in Europe’s largest fishing port, Vigo. The EU remains one of the biggest exporters of shark fins in the world.
Over 1 million EU citizens called for a ban on the shark fin trade. The EU listened – and did nothing.
This is still legal. This is happening. Right now. We need more pressure to hold the EU accountable. The sharks can’t wait! We need to ban the shark fin trade in the EU once and for all!
Director Biography – Hendrik S. Schmitt, Claudia Schmitt
The Jetlagged are award-winning underwater, nature and wildlife filmmakers and passionate for the protection of our ocean. While Hendrik enjoys combining his professional education as director and filmmaker with his passion for the ocean, Claudia builds on her background in media production and quickly developed into an avid underwater videographer, one of the few females in the industry.
The Jetlagged create powerful films about the underwater world from the polar circle to the equator. Confronted with the vulnerability of the ocean and eye witness to the problems our ocean is facing, they decided to become ambassadors of the underwater world. They use their cameras and skills not only to create beautiful films about their diving adventures, but also to focus on documentary films about environmental issues like pollution, climate crisis, overfishing and species extinctions – and on the ocean heroes who are dedicated to the ocean’s protection.
Over the years, The Jetlagged’s films have reached countless thrilled audiences, both online on social media platforms and on film festivals in many different countries, where all of their films have been able to win international film festival awards.
