Jaws Should Be Terrified Of Us!

Forty years ago this week a dark fin broke the surface of the water around the fictional resort of Amity Island. To John Williams’ heart pounding theme, the 25-foot, three ton, Carcharodon Carcharius, promptly started chomping its way through naked bathers, fishermen and the odd water skier. Based on Peter Benchley’s best-selling novel, Jaws was an instant box office hit but controversy has always stalked the film much in the same way as Benchley’s shark stalked the residents of Amity. The project had been beset with problems during filming. The main stars disliked each other intensely, the mechanical shark that was used didn’t work properly and the director, Steven Spielberg, feared the whole thing would be a cinematic flop. The biggest controversy however, still remains forty years on. That controversy is the fact that many conservationists feel that Jaws propagates a myth, the myth of the “killer shark”. Peter Benchley, who would later become an advocator for shark conservation, even said he regretted writing the novel in the first place. “What I now know, which wasn’t known when I wrote Jaws, is that there is no such thing as a rogue shark which develops a taste for human flesh,” Benchley told the Animal Attack Files in 2000. “No one appreciates how vulnerable they are to destruction.” 

 

No one can deny that sharks do attack people and that these attacks are sometimes fatal. No one can deny either, the dreadful impact these attacks unquestionably have on the lives of survivors or the sense of horror and loss that families must feel when they are informed that their loved one has died as a result of a shark attack. Nor should we underestimate the psychological, drip, drip effect that news of these attacks has on the rest of the global population. 

In the movie Jaws, the towns Mayor, played by Murray Hamilton neatly sums this up when he tells Chief Brody (Roy Schneider): “Martin, it's all psychological. You yell barracuda, everybody says, "Huh? What?" You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hands...”

Then of course there is the notion that sharks serve little or no purpose in the ocean eco-system. Again this is neatly encapsulated in the film when the character Hooper, played by Richard Dreyfuss remarks that sharks are in essence machines. “…And all these machines do is swim and eat and make little sharks, and that’s all.” In short sharks only exist to swim around eating fish, surfers, swimmers etc and then pop off to propagate more sharks in order to continue the oceanic killing spree. But do sharks really deserve their reputation as voracious killers or is the idea of the “killer shark” really just a myth and if they serve no purpose as a species would it really matter if man looked upon them as a scourge of the oceans and simply wiped them out?

In 2014 there were 72 unprovoked shark attacks reported globally, seven of which ended in fatalities. Since 1900 the number of shark attacks reported has increased annually. The great majority of these attacks occur off the coasts of Australia, U.S. and South Africa. Florida is particularly prone to attacks with 54% of reported shark attacks in the U.S. occurring in that states waters. Troubling figures you might think, but let’s get some perspective. In the UK in 2014, road traffic accidents accounted for 1,713 fatalities. In the same year 42 people died in the U.S. as a result of dog bites and in Florida in 2014, firearms were used to kill 687 people.  Sharks don’t even make it onto the list of the top ten dangerous animals to mankind. Top of that list is the mosquito, which through transmission of malaria manages to bump off two million people every year, snakes kill on average 100,000, scorpions help 5000 people to shuffle off the mortal coil yearly and are followed in order by crocodiles, elephants, bees, lions, rhinoceroses, jellyfish and tigers. It is true that the number of shark attacks has increased yearly since 1900 but this is easily explained by the fact that the number of people entering the oceans has increased, More people swim, snorkel, dive, surf and play about on boats than ever before in history and thus there are more opportunities for interaction between man and sharks. Experts also cite the fact that reporting of shark attacks has improved greatly and so many more incidents are reported, logged and investigated. The great majority of attacks are often a simple case of mistaken identity, Surfers paddling on boards, divers and snorkellers floating near the surface, tend to resemble many a sharks favoured prey; seals. Swimmers splashing about in the shallows also attract sharks as they mimic the actions of fish in distress. Of course knowing that you have been mistaken for a seal is hardly going to enamour you to the toothy critter gnawing through your surfboard or heaven forbid your leg but it is worth remembering that your chances of being attacked is a staggering one in 11.5 million. 

Sharks do kill people but they are definitely not the deliberate, stalking killers of Jaws fame. But what if you’re not convinced? What if you still think that the ocean would be a much more pleasant place to frolic in without worrying about sleek, dark shadows lurking in the depths ready to sink a thousand razor sharp teeth into your flesh. What would a world without sharks be like?  The law of unintended consequences comes into play here. An ocean without sharks will not be the tooth free wonderland one might imagine. Sharks are the oceans top predators and if you remove them, then the chances are that the creatures they prey on will proliferate. These creatures in turn, unimpeded by predation, will overwhelm the food chain below.  In the U.S. in 2007 it was reported that over fishing of sharks in the northwest Atlantic had led to a boom in other marine species and as a consequence commercial fishing for oysters and scallops had been devastated. Most experts believe that the removal of sharks from the ocean would lead to catastrophic effects on the lower parts of the food chain. The bottom end of the chain would be destroyed and as a result reefs would die and the water itself would become a cloudy morass of detritus, jellyfish and microbes. The oceans as we know them now would become little more than a memory. A trip to the beach doesn’t sound that inviting if your sunbed is situated just a few metres away from a smelly, slimy oceanic bog infested with jellyfish rather than a crystal clear, azure ocean does it? We have much more to fear from an ocean without sharks than we have of sharks being in the ocean.

It might already be too late however. Shark numbers are in sharp decline and as usual it is man that is driving this decline.  Between 70 and 100 million sharks are killed every year. Most are killed to supply the repulsive shark fin soup trade. Shark fins sell for hundreds of dollars each and although the soup produced is bland and nutritionally useless, it is highly regarded in China and South East Asia with single bowls of the stuff reputedly selling for $150. Although 85% of shark fins are moved through Hong Kong, don’t think that the problem is simply an Asian issue. Mexico, Argentina, U.S.A, New Zealand and Nigeria have significant shark fishing industries. The practice of shark fining is banned in the European Union but European fishermen still net an estimated 100,000 tons of shark each year. Spain, France and Portugal are the leading culprits; together they are responsible for 12% of the global shark catch. Deliberate fishing isn’t the only problem either; a great many sharks are killed accidentally in commercial fishing nets and are hooked on long lines.

The rogue killer of Jaws fame it seems is far more threatened by man than man is by it. 

The myth of the “killer shark” really is just that, a myth. Yet that myth still seems to have a strong, cold grip, on our imagination. But here’s a thing, Peter Benchley’s novel and Spielberg’s film aren’t the problem here. Sharks and the fear of their attacks have terrified us long before Robert Shaw delivered that hair-raising U.S.S. Indianapolis monologue in the movie. Sharks are supreme predators with mouths brimming with razor sharp teeth and being wary of them is just common sense. But there is a difference between having a healthy respect for sharks and hysterical fear. Jaws is just a movie, a very good movie mind, but nevertheless just a movie and its main character, that 25-foot shark, is a mechanical fake. Jaws is simply Hollywood entertainment just as The Terminator movie is, and like the Terminator you have to willingly suspend your disbelief or the whole thing becomes preposterous. We, man, are the real problem here. Our fear of sharks is often driven by ignorance, helped in no small part we’re sure, by media hysterics when an attack occurs. We need to grow up here, we need to educate ourselves and learn that sharks are not mindless, cold-hearted killers but the supreme pinnacle of marine evolution. We need sharks, the oceans need sharks and if we want to keep our coral reefs and marine eco-systems, if we want to swim in azure waters and enjoy the benefits of healthy seas we are going to have to stop thinking like children and start thinking like adults. We are going to have to accept that even in a perfect world a little danger must always lurk.

Debunking the myth, the Sharkwater Film. Please check this out if you haven't already seen this brilliant 2007 film.

Shark Tracking - global shark incidents tracked yearly