A Florida dive team found a submerged body thought to be Rob Stewart, a Canadian filmmaker and environmental activist who went missing after a deepwater dive off the southern Florida coast, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman. A Key Largo volunteer fire and rescue dive team found the body at a depth of 220 feet (67 meters) near where Stewart went missing off the Florida Keys. Final identification by the local medical examiner was pending, said Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Eric Woodall, a spokesman. Stewart, 37, went missing on Tuesday after a deepwater dive to retrieve an anchor. His dive partner collapsed after returning to the boat, while Stewart, who signaled he was OK when he surfaced, later disappeared, Stewart's parents said. The U.S. Navy, Customs and Border Protection, Florida wildlife officials, a county sheriff's office and civilian volunteers had joined the Coast Guard in the search, which covered an area about the size of Connecticut. Ships, helicopters, airplanes, dive teams and sonar equipment were deployed in the effort, the Coast Guard said. Stewart's 2006 documentary "Sharkwater" was aimed at exposing the shark hunting industry that was feeding demand for fins, a delicacy in Chinese cuisine. The hunting has ravaged shark populations and the film was part of a campaign that helped persuade some governments to crack down on "finning." With finning, typically the fins are cut off and the live shark is tossed back into the sea. Unable to swim properly, the shark suffocates or is killed by predators.
