Divers find filmmaker’s body
Volunteer divers with a Florida fire department found the body of missing Toronto filmmaker Rob Stewart, the U.S. Coast Guard and Stewart’s family confirmed Friday night.
Volunteers found Stewart’s body at a depth of 220 feet, a tweet from the coast guard said.
“It’s with a heavy heart that we share that Rob has been found peacefully in the ocean,” said Victoria Gormley, a spokesperson for Stewart’s family.
“Searchers from the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S navy, local police and fire department, Border Control and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission searched the area, by air and sea, around the clock for three days.
Stewart, 37, best known for his documentary Sharkwater, hadn’t been seen since Tuesday, when scuba diving in an area called Alligator Reef.
An enormous volunteer effort, coordinated by Stewart’s family and friends, also supplemented the Coast Guard search.
The 37-year-old filmmaker and environmental activist documented the ocean for much of his life.
He began underwater photography when he was 13, became a certified scuba-diving instructor at 18, and, at 27, premiered Sharkwater at the Toronto International Film Festival. “We know Rob would want everyone to continue his mission to save the oceans and sharks,” Stewart’s parents, Sandra and Brian Stewart, said in a statement. “He believes men should live in harmony with nature.” With files from Emma McIntosh