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NEWS > SCIENCE > EXPERTS CONCERNED SHARKS NOT GETTING FULL BENEFIT OF SHARK WEEK
EXPERTS CONCERNED SHARKS NOT GETTING FULL BENEFIT OF SHARK WEEK
August 4 2010
Washington, D.C. – There are many dangerous and hostile predators in the wild kingdom that despite our global dominance and undoubted strength still pose a threat to human kind. While some are poisonous and others surprisingly strong, there are a
few beasts that truly strike fear into our hearts. For the most part those animals tend to be the large apex predators, the ones with huge teeth and claws. Bears, lions, and tigers all fit the bill but it is sharks that evoke the most fear.
One of the few remaining species from the dinosaur age, the eating machine that sharks are has made them the stuff of nightmares. Attacks are rare, and deaths even rarer still, but like any monster logic flies out of the window. The cold black eyes, the sleek emotionless visage, and the jaws that can unhinge to swallow virtually any prey have made sharks the most feared predator on the planet. That fear has also made them one of the most fascinating and one of the most beloved as evidenced by movies such as ‘Jaws’ and regular features on nature shows including the yearly dedication by the Discovery Channel, ‘Shark Week’. Now an annual dedication to monsters of the deep, the weeklong celebration of the giant fish has become a common experience for millions, though the subjects, the sharks, have been left on the outside, something experts are seeking to change.
“So many people have profited from sharks over the years but they have done that at the expense of the animals themselves. Jaws is probably the best example. It was a monster, a serial killer, and that has embedded people with an incredible level of fear that has resulted in the deaths of many of the animals,” said David Kimble of CHARK. “Things like Shark Week pretend to be about good science and informing people but they are another form of exploitation. The sharks should be getting a share of these efforts. If it were porn star week the participants would get a cut.”
It’s believed that if Discovery were to run a porn star week their ratings would go through the roof.
“There is this notion that if the people who profit off sharks were to put some of the money they earned back into conservation and education then the animals would be much better off. That may or may not be the case. The reality is that the damage done by the program itself could cause more problems than the money can make up for,” said Scrape TV Zoology analyst Cambridge Walker. “That is really the only way you could make the argument. I mean sharks don’t have a union and probably wouldn’t even understand the concept of money. They have no internal economy and they are unable to leave the water so even if they wanted to make purchases they wouldn’t be able to. I suppose the money could be put into a trust in case later generations evolve but that is betting on a long shot.”
Sharks are believed to be more or less the same today as they were in the age of the dinosaurs more than 60 million years ago.
“Other than that I’m not sure what else can be done. Education is important and valuable and could in the long run help the sharks survive. It helps to increase awareness and ultimately activism. It also prompts more people to jump into cages and taunt the animals but that’s all in good fun,” continued Walker. “I’m all for helping animals but I think that any effort to cut the animals in on the profits would be silly and misguided. Hell, they don’t even wear pants. Where would they keep their wallets.”
Sharks also don’t have hands making the counting of money, particularly change, very difficult.
Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent
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