Rhode Islanders making splash on Shark Week

JOE Romeiro, left, of 333 Productions LLC, and Carlos Toro, right, of Steer Digital Media, are shown during a trip to the Bahamas to film sharks. / COURTESY CARLOS TORO/STEER DIGITAL MEDIA
JOE Romeiro, left, of 333 Productions LLC, and Carlos Toro, right, of Steer Digital Media, are shown during a trip to the Bahamas to film sharks. / COURTESY CARLOS TORO/STEER DIGITAL MEDIA

PROVIDENCE – Two Rhode Islanders are making a splash on Shark Week, which kicks off Sunday night on the Discovery Channel.
Underwater filmmaker Joe Romeiro, of 333 Productions LLC, and Carlos Toro, who runs the Providence company Steer Digital, will have their work featured on the debut Shark Week show, “Tiger Beach,” Sunday night at 8.
They discussed their involvement with the show and their work during a recent phone interview.
Romeiro, a Shark Week regular, also will be involved with the other shows throughout the week, including “The Return of Monster Mako,” shot off the coast of Rhode Island, and “Sharktacular.”
The description of “The Return of Monster Mako” on the Discovery Channel website states: “Granders are enormous makos that make a kind of transformation when they reach 10 feet and 1000 pounds – they become more secretive and begin to hunt bigger prey, like seals. And they’re hard to find on the East Coast – until Joe Romeiro and team jump in the water after dark and come face to face with them.”
Romeiro, of Exeter, has loved sharks since he saw his first one at age 5, and has been filming sharks for a decade – his specialty is filming at night. He creates videos to educate people about how sharks are threatened, and the importance of conserving them. That message is important, he said, and one he wants to spread.
“I’ve been into sharks my whole life,” Romeiro said. “I always wanted to be around sharks.”
He said there are more than 25 different species of sharks in New England, and while there may be Great Whites in Cape Cod waters, to see a shark in Rhode Island, he said “you have to go far out.”
Through a mutual friend, Romeiro met Toro, and they “immediately hit it off,” according to Romeiro.
Romeiro said Toro understood his motivation, and created a short film about Romeiro called “The Edge” to capture his work. That won Toro the “best emerging filmmaker film” at the BLUE Ocean Film Festival & Ocean Conservation Summit in Monaco in November.
Toro, who started his company in 2012, said he and his team accompanied Romeiro to the Bahamas in October and January to shoot footage to be used on the show.
Toro said it was amazing to be so close to creatures humans have been trained to fear. He said he had to swim through as many as 15 to 20 sharks to film. Toro said he felt cautious, not scared.
“You just become used to these animals,” Toro said. “It was incredible.”

Now Romeiro and Toro are forming their own brand, 333 Digital, to continue their work together, focusing on digital media for the marine world.

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