This has been going on for 7 years!

Rick Anderson has more than thirty years of experience in scuba diving, and even operates his own diving school. He has recently made friends with  6-foot female port Jackson shark.  Rick did not name her yet, but recognizes the individual by her markings.

Port Jackson sharks are much  smaller than great white sharks, for instance, but  as media portrays all sharks as dangerous to people, not everyone was thinking that Rick’s initiative is  good idea Rick was explaining that in reality people are more dangerous to sharks as about 73K sharks are being are being killed by humans every year.

Rick Anderson puts his oxygen tank and regulator to dive  into the ocean off the coast of Nobbys Beach in New South Wales, Australia to visit his friend underwater

Rick says his shark recognizes him faster.

“I started playing with her about seven years ago when she was just a pup about 6 inches long,” Anderson said . “I approached her carefully so as not to spook her, then began to gently pat her. Once she got used to me, I would cradle her in my hand and talk soothingly to her through my regulator.”

“I did this each time in the first season she was here,” he said. “Then over the following seasons, she’d recognize me and would swim up to me for a pat and cuddle. She soon got used to me — to the point where she will swim up to me when I’m going past, and tap me on the legs until I hold my arms out for her to lay on for a cuddle.”

“Most divers seeing this for the first time can’t believe it,” he added. “I don’t feed her or any of the other sharks I play with — I basically treat them like I would a dog.”

“The biggest misconception about sharks is that they are all mindless killers lying in wait for people to enter the water so they can be devoured,” Anderson said.

Being an experienced diver Anderson dives with other species too, such as banjo sharks, grey nurse sharks, tiger sharks, bull sharks, hammerhead sharks and even the odd great white shark. He tries to educate public about the useful role of the sharks in the ecosystems, so that people stop killing sharks for their fins or out of fear