However, most of the time when people are around sharks, nothing happens. People are often forgetful.
“If you’ve been in the ocean, there was probably a shark near you and it probably knew you were there even if you didn’t know,” said David Shiffman, a marine biologist and author of the book. Why Sharks Are Important. ”Dr. For example, Macdonald and a team recently discovered a great hammerhead nursery off the coast of Miami – the first to be found on the Atlantic coast of the United States.
The move away from the word “attack” has generated some criticism, including from the founder of the Bite Club, a self-help group for survivors. On Friday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said that if the new terms were accepted, “if a white man chews your leg off, it’s a ‘negative interaction'”.
Dr. However, Shiffman said the new terms are “not about PC culture running amok”.
“This is about being specific without being seditious,” he said. “Inflammatory reporting makes people afraid of sharks and could potentially mean less support for their protection and possibly for their eradication.”
Thanks to the movie “Jaws” and related popular culture, sharks got “the bad end of the PR stick,” said Jasmin Graham, president of Minorities in Shark Scientists and marine biologist at Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in Sarasota. Fla. “Everyone has this collective negative reaction to them,” she said, “and it has its roots in the media we consume.”
Chris Lowe, professor and director of the Shark Lab at California State University in Long Beach, compared the public’s perception of sharks to the popular 19th century image of whales as “demonic animals” that “kill people.”
By the 1970s, when whales were almost extinct, the public’s view of things had changed radically. People could see recordings of whales being harpooned and the message spread that whales were mammals that suckled their young and loudly communicated with clicks, chirps and songs.
It was “the best rebranding ever,” said Dr. Lion.
“We got tons of footage of sharks and humans together and people aren’t getting bitten,” he said. “So why should we be afraid?”
