JAWS to blame for smaller Shark Numbers???

[Tonichelle]

My local news reported today that it's been 30 years since JAWS opened in the theaters. I am not a fan of the movie as I have never sat down and watched the whole thing. "Bruce" is so fake looking I don't think I'd overly enjoy it, even though I love all things Steven Spielberg.

My local news also said that there are greenpeace/animal lover groups that are blamming Spielberg for the decrease in shark numbers off of Florida's coast due to Shark Killings. Aparently they're saying that BECAUSE of JAWS people started killing sharks.

We have sharks up here, and I have fished for them on occassion, and I can say that JAWS was not the reason. LOL. It's a thrill to "fight" a "shark". Maybe in some way our culture was changed into thinking it was a thrilling animal, but considering those suckers were biting people before Spielberg's film came out I think people always had a reverent fear/thrill when thinking of those films.


So what do you think? Is Spielberg's JAWS movie (and the production company's multiple sequels/spin offs) to blame?

I would also like to know what source my local news was using... I've gotten my interest turned on now...

[heyang]

I'm not sure if the reduced population can be blamed on Jaws alone. I'm sure fear is part of it, but Discovery Channel also has shark week; so, I would hope some people are better educated about sharks.

I know that sharks were being hunted for their fins. It's really quite sad. The fins are considered a delicacy in Asia. The goverment passed regulations, but, as with anything, they were hunted for the highest bidder. The fisherman would cut off only the fins and let the rest of the shark back in the water to be preeyed upon.

Author Peter Benchley says that he really regrets not educating himself more about sharks before writing Jaws. If he had known what he knows now, he would not have made the Great White the villian.

I'm not a die hard enviromentalist, but I'm sure what man has done to the environment has caused sharks to come closer to human populations as they seek out food - and not neccessarily humans as 'lunch'. In many shark attacks, the human is usually lying down on a surfboard and paddling - their shadow resembles a seal, which is the natural prey of sharks. Typically, once a shark takes a bite out of human, it lets go because it doesn't like our taste.

[diver chick]

The reduced number of sharks is to do with people who think they have a divine right to be in the water and so kill sharks to make the water safe! As well as the numbers of people who fish sharks, particularly for their fins at an entirely unsustainable rate!

[Johar]

Sharks are vital for the ocean, and without the ocean humans would die off. It's very sad when sharks are killed for a fin then their bodies are dumped. In fact, it makes me angry.

[diver chick]

Yes sharks are vital to the balance of the oceans' ecosystems and fishing them out really causes untold damage and unbalances the whole system. I've been down there and seen the devestation that fisheries and industry claim does not exist and believe me it most certainly does exist!

[show 42]

Toni, "Jaws" thirty years ago was very realistically done, for those days. Now of course, with computers, anything visually seen is possible. My hubby and I waited in a line that wrapped around the movie theater to see this movie. In those days, movie theaters only had one screen. We sat in the front row looking up. It was terrifying. Two days late we jetted off to Hawaii. Guess who was too freaked out by the movie to go into the water? Everyone who saw this flick. Needless to say, we did no ocean swimming or snorkeling, but the glass bottom boat rides were packed. There are a lot of sharks in the waters off the Hawaiian Islands, so everyone wanted to view first hand the "terrors of the deep"................42