Mr Kaszo was part of a team working to secure the future of thresher sharks in the waters at a popular Philippines dive site.

Large numbers of divers visiting the shark habitat were having a significant impact on the species.

The objective of the documentary was to help convince the Philippines government to declare the area a marine park and to limit the amount of divers in the water at one time.

Mr Kaszo said the shark, which spends its life in water 200m deep, was timid and the only time it made a daily trip to within 30m of the surface it was often surrounded by divers.

“Last time I was at the island there would have been up to 50 to 70 divers in the water. Imagine the impact of that many divers in that area twice a day,” he said.

“We achieved most of what I had intended,” Mr Kaszo said.

“While I was there the local government made a declaration to protect Monad Shoal and the surrounding reefs and implement a protection zone effective immediately.

“The prime mover for that achievement was my friend and colleague Dr Simon Oliver the head of the international thresher shark research program.

“He worked tirelessly to get a formal arrangement in place and my role was to foster public support through a documentary film to help convince the Philippines government to implement protection.”

Mr Kaszo said the footage he shot would be used to make a 30 minute documentary.