For as long as I can remember, an exaggerated fear of sharks has strongly existed in our cultural and entertainment landscape.
Forty-four years ago, Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” helped turn sharks into a public enemy as many beachgoers subsequently became terrified to swim in the ocean. But Spielberg is not entirely to blame—he simply capitalized on our longstanding trepidation of shark attacks.
Cashing in on fright wasn’t new at the time, nor was exaggerating the truth. Since the release of “Jaws,” dozens of horror and suspense films that depict sharks as evil predators have been released, capitalizing on folklore and falsehood.
In the late 1980s, Discovery Channel began its annual Shark Week series. It was originally intended to educate viewers but quickly began producing sensational, fear-driven programming, doing more harm than good to the species.
But is she really at risk of becoming a meal? Do sharks really prey on us? No. In fact, they’re not looking to eat us at all. We don’t naturally inhabit the ocean. In most cases, shark attacks are merely a result of humans getting in the way of actual prey, such as seals, crustaceans, and other smaller fish.
In fact, human–shark interactions are completely lopsided, as we kill 100 million sharks annually—that’s 11,000 sharks every hour. Among a variety of uses for their body parts—including medicine and fashion—shark-finning remains the most controversial. Fishermen remove only the fin and return the animals to the ocean, where they sink and slowly bleed to death. Shark fin soup remains popular in many Asian countries, fetching as much as $100 per bowl. In recent years, shark-finning has slowly been banned in more than 27 countries and 12 U.S. states, due to conservation awareness and governmental support.
Leading conservation organizations, such as Oceana, have helped educate populations and lobbied governments for bans and sustainable fishing alternatives. In recent years, Oceana has partnered with Discovery Channel for Shark Week, beginning this year on July 28, as the network attempts to pivot the conversation on sharks toward facts, rather than fiction.
The public perception of sharks may be misguided, but let’s face it—we need them. Their role as a keystone species is vital to the health of our oceans. If sharks disappear, ecosystems around the world will crumble, leading to a quick demise of our global fishing industry.
Perhaps, the time has come for an image makeover.
