Shark Whisperer is a revealing Netflix documentary that focuses on Ocean Ramsey, a marine conservationist who has caused a social media storm by risking her life to swim up close and personal with sharks. With her two million Instagram followers, she claims she sheds light on shark conservation. But her critics argue she’s putting her life in danger for the sake of social media celebrity.
Co-directed by James Reed, who won an Oscar for My Octopus Teacher, the film features Ocean as she swims freely alongside Tiger sharks to Great Whites to challenge the negative perception of these apex predators and prove their not "monsters".
Meanwhile, we also hear from her critics who believe she represents a troubling trend for self-promotion disguised as environmentalism. So are Ocean’s viral videos made more for attention than for science?
Here’s everything we know about Shark Whisperer on Netflix…
Shark Whisperer release date
Shark Whisperer is a one-off documentary film that launches worldwide on Netflix from Monday 30 June 2025.
is there a trailer?
Yes, there is a Shark Whisperer trailer! In it Ocean Ramsey is heard saying, "I’m not a crazy person" before cameras cut to her in the middle of the deep ocean with two huge sharks circling around her!
Shark Whisperer — what’s it about?
Shark Whisperer follows Ocean Ramsey, a marine conservationist, who makes divisive viral videos showing her swimming freely with sharks up close, interactions that she says she hopes will challenge the negative perception of these misunderstood apex predators.
The film dives into her underwater world as she swims alongside dangerous species from Tiger sharks to Great Whites, all without a cage for protection, in order to decode their language and prove they’re not "monsters". But the documentary also hears from some of Ocean’s many critics, who claim she’s risking her life purely for fame and "likes".
The synopsis says Shark Whisperer is "a provocative and visually arresting documentary that dives into the murky waters of modern conservation, where science, activism, and spectacle collide."
It also reads: "Through intimate character study and breathtaking underwater cinematography, the film explores the tensions between advocacy and ethics, media influence and ecological integrity.
"With insight from marine biologists, indigenous knowledge holders, and fellow conservationists - both supportive and dissenting - it paints a nuanced portrait of a polarizing figure and the broader questions she provokes.
"This is not just a story about sharks. It's a story about how we choose to tell stories - about nature, ourselves, and what we're willing to risk to be heard."
All about Oscar-winning director James Reed
James Reed is a director and producer who has made numerous wildlife films, including Jago: A Life Underwater, Rise of the Warrior Apes, and Netflix’s My Octopus Teacher about freediver Craig Foster who formed a year-long bond with a curious young octopus. The film won an Oscar in 2021 for Best Documentary Feature for James Reed and Pippa Ehrlich.
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