The 'Jacques Cousteau' of the Costa del Sol who aims to combat widespread fear of sharks

Paco Pinto from Malaga fell in love with sharks when he was just a child, watching Jacques Cousteau's documentaries. Although he was fascinated by the sea, he avoided studying science because mathematics terrified him. Instead, he learned everything he knows about sharks all by himself, spending a life devoted to research. "When I was a child, I would go to the provincial authority and the Casa de la Cultura, both of which had libraries, and I would look for books on sharks and absorb everything in them. At that time, there was no internet and hardly any computers," said Pinto.

He went to the US during the 90s, where he spent two months travelling all over the country to see the aquariums that had sharks in captivity. He would talk to the people who took care of the sea creatures to learn more. "Being able to speak English gave me an advantage," he said. At that time, he also did a scuba diving course, but it was during a trip to Kenya when he first got the chance to properly practice.

Where does his fascination come from? Pinto is amazed by the shark's seven senses. "In addition to our five, they have two more." One concerns the "lateral line", located on both sides of the body, which allows them to sense vibrations; for example, the tail flick of a fish biting a hook from about 100 metres away.

The seventh sense comes from the Lorenzini ampoules - "little dots on their nose area that allow them to locate the electrical charges of animals, even when they are buried 50 centimetres deep in sand. It's fascinating". In addition, sharks have an ear that can hear sounds in the water from kilometres away, while their sense of smell has a range of hundreds of metres. Sharks can also see at tens of metres.

Paco's fascination became a lifestyle. Although he is now retired (at the age of 61), he has always worked in contact with sharks. He has been with the Aula del Mar almost since its inauguration in 1989, first as a volunteer and then as an employee. He also participated in the initial stages of Sea Life in Puerto Marina (Benalmádena).

"We had up to 20 species and every time I went in to clean the algae crystals I would dive with them. We never had any problems." He also lived with sharks in the wild in the Bahamas.

Paco's life-long dream came true in 2010, when he travelled to South Africa to drive with the great white shark. "That's the only species that requires the use of a safety cage for the diver."

The time he spent in Benalmádena opened the doors to international specialist conferences, which he attended on behalf of the Malaga aquarium. He also became a member of the main expert associations in Spain and Europe.

After half a century of living with them, Paco Pinto tries to debunk the myths about the danger that sharks pose. "The problem started with the film Jaws, which exaggerated the images. They never follow boats and never climb on top of them to eat anyone. All that is false, but that is the image that the public has. It is very different for those of us who do this as part of our life."

There are about 75 shark 'attacks' per year across the globe, but Paco prefers the term 'accidents'. Out of the total number, around ten people die. "Look at the statistics for deaths from mosquitoes, hippos, elephants, snakes - there are thousands of them. Even man's best friend, the dog, kills 20 people every year."

The Malaga-native shark lover has summarised all this knowledge in an encyclopaedia, which took him five years to write and which he began to compile during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has two volumes and describes the 536 species that have already been catalogued, although new ones are discovered every year. "We are already around 550, but the latest ones have not yet been described by the scientific community."

Paco works for pleasure and with the desire to spread more shark knowledge among people, profit being far from his goal.