About Aquatic Rehab Films

Luke Potts on  Aquatic Rehab Films

Spearfishing for me was a natural progression from bush hunting. I liked the idea of selectively hunting an animal in its own environment rather than the typical surface fishing practices. What appealed was the skill involved in breath hold free diving and the fact that you have to ascend to the specific target species depth on one breath or you don’t get the chance to spear them. Hiding and using stealth all while staying relaxed to preserve oxygen in habitats that hold large predators like sharks became a fascination. Learning to keep the body in a meditative state during intense situations changed my view on the human body, life and rational fear. Being sub zero on one breath with sharks, rays, fish and other interesting marine life merged into a therapeutic habit as the ideas for Aquatic Rehab films began to surface.

After two years of Spearfishing I took a digital underwater camera into the ocean and held it in my left hand to film myself and others spearfishing. The footage collected in one day would be taken and transformed on a basic editing program into an abstract view of the underwater world. After the first few short videos were made the filming became the next obsession over spearfishing. It was the idea of pulling footage from this completely foreign environment with a different set of rules and turning it into something creative. Sharing our visual experiences with other divers and people who have not been Spearfishing at all rewarded Aquatic Rehab with an online fan base that encouraged more filming and set the film project in motion.

The future goals of Aquatic Rehab films include helping to try and dispel the common myths about sharks, marine life identification videos in New Zealand plus national and international spearfishing dvds and videos.
Another idea that inspires me to keep filming different species(target and non target) is to help try and preserve the memory of marine life that may be impacted in the future by fishing pressure and ignorant fishing practices.

The short youtube videos can be viewed at www.youtube.com/aquaticrehab or on the Ocean Hunter Spearfishing specialist website – www.oceanhunter.co.nz and there is an Aquatic Rehab Films facebook group where you can also keep posted on recent and long term activity.