Post Description

Program Synopsis

Discovery Channel dives deep into some of the planet's most hostile waters to launch the new three part series, Abalone Wars. The Australian production follows the men and women who risk their lives in one of the world's most dangerous jobs - diving for abalone.

For these brave few, there is a killing to be made. Millions of dollars' worth of abalone lay there, just below the surface ripe for the picking, but can the divers make it out alive?

The Southern Ocean, off the tip of South Australia is home to more sharks per square kilometre than almost anywhere else in the world. The risk of death by shark attack is very real here, many divers personally know the heart ache felt from losing loved ones. But that doesn't stop this group of fearless men who, every season, battle against their nerves plunging to the depths and scouring the ocean floor for the much-prized green and black abalone.

In this never-before-seen series, we follow several fiercely competitive crews. Each sets out into the hostile waters to make enough money to support their families for the coming year.

In Port Lincoln there are only 32 quotas and this season each is licensed to catch 7 1/2 tonnes of abalone.

With abalone selling for $20-$30 apiece, these divers know there is a killing to be made, but everyday beneath the waves is a fight for survival against the weather, the predators and inevitably the clock to secure the catch and return home safely.

While abalone diving requires a quota and license to practice, illegal poachers pillage Australian waters keeping the ocean police on constant guard. For everyten tonnes of Abalone caught, one tonne is gathered illegally. It's a huge threat to fishing quotas, and is part of the reason why abalone divers have to move further out into the ocean each year seeking their catch.

Abalone live in some of the most dangerous waters in the ocean where the swells, cold currents and waves are at their fiercest. They rely on the currents to bring them drifting algae to eat. The fattest and most valuable abalone live in dangerous white water, forcing abalone divers to fish just metres from the perilous rocks where giant ocean waves pound.

In this series we learn how abalone divers design and construct their own cages to protect them against their most feared enemy - The Great White Shark.

The most vulnerable time for an abalone diver is descending to the ocean floor and returning to the surface, as Great White Sharks attack from below. Diver's raceto the bottom for protection, surfacing as little as possible during their shifts to reduce the risk of shark attacks.

The majority of divers work without a shark cage. Instead they rely on a 'Shark Shield', an anti-shark device to protect them. However these devices are not 100% effective and many attacks have occurred even when victims were wearing one.

We also join the ocean police to witness first hand their daily fight to keep poachers out of the water, and observe how an abalone diver deals not only with the physical demands of the trade but also the mental as they tame the fear born in their own mind to become a true abalone diver.