Ocean Ramsey

Ocean Ramsey (born 1987) is an American shark conservationist and model. She gained international media attention for free diving with sharks, including great white sharks and tiger sharks, to raise awareness about shark conservation and promote her business. Ramsey is based in Hawaii and has dived with 47 species of sharks around the world as of 2019. She is the subject of a 2025 Netflix documentary, the Shark Whisperer which covers both her conservation work and the controversy surrounding her approach.

Great white shark encounter While filming tiger sharks in Oahu, Ramsey and a film crew encountered a female great white shark, later identified as Deep Blue, or Haole Girl. The encounter was captured by Ramsey's then-fiancé, Juan Oliphant, and the footage received worldwide media attention. While she has been praised for raising awareness of the species, she has been criticized for her actions in the footage. Marine biologist Michael Domeier, founding director of the non-profit Marine Conservation Science Institute, criticized Ramsey for appearing in the viral shark interaction video. David Shiffman, a marine conservation biologist who studies sharks, told The Washington Post: "I can't believe that 'please don't grab the 18-foot long wild predator' is something that needs to be explicitly said out loud but here we are.".

Legislative efforts Ramsey and dozens of individuals and organizations had for many years sought a law banning the killing of sharks. After several years of failed votes, Hawaii House Bill 553 was passed in 2021, making Hawaii the first state to ban the killing of sharks.