media feeding frenzy

we all know that alot of what the media does is scare tactics. if you don't wash your hands every few seconds you might get the bird flu, for example. this morning i saw a fairly good example of that.

warning: this blog has to do with sharks, so if you are sick of hearing it from me quit reading.

on the today show this morning a news story came on about a man who had been feeding sharks in the Bahamas without a cage, was bitten, and died from loss of blood. the woman who gave the story did fairly well, she did mention that shark populations have been dropping, which is surprising for the media to admit. but right after that she said, "even though shark attacks have been in decline recently, over the years there has been an increase in attacks." i know why that is, more are reported, and there are more people in the water. with more people in the water, statistically there will be more attacks. just because it is a little more likely. also, the media pounces on these things with a vengeance.

in 2001 there were "alot" of attacks and it was dubbed the "summer of the shark."

there were less attacks that year than there were the year before. only because of the media frenzy did we think that there was a shark attack epidemic.

i will never deny the tragedy of someone dying from a shark attack. just as i will never deny the tragedy of someone being mauled by a bear. but we need to understand that we are sharing these environments. we are putting ourselves in harms way to get a closer look. Rob Stewart, the filmmaker of "Sharkwater" was on the today show and said that this is the first time that anyone had died while on one of these expeditions. the shark did not tear away any flesh, it was going for the fish, bit the man's calf, and swam away. the boat was too far from shore to get him to safety and he bled to death. this is an accident, not an unprovoked, malicious, shark attack.

sharks are amazing creatures and not out to get us. we are ever intruding and raping their environment and have killed more of them than it is possible to count. we need to treat them with respect and awe. we do need to be wary, because they are dangerous, but we need not fear them out of ignorance, we should fear them out of respect. this man's death is truly sad and my heart goes out to his family. i just hope that the media does not continue to portray the shark as a menace to the human race.

it is the lonely lord of the sea.

to read the story and see what Rob Stewart said go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23368894/