In case you missed it, 2015 Shark Week officially started last Sunday, July 5th.
The week-long programming event was started by Discovery Channel in July, 1988. The intention then was to raise awareness and respect for sharks, though now, it seems to make even more people afraid of sharks…and definitely continues to raise Discovery Channel’s ratings.
Shark Week is now broadcast in 72 countries and is the longest-running programming event in cable T.V. history.
I am one of those people who have a fear of sharks (isn’t everyone afraid of sharks???). Through my blog, I’ve learned a lot more about them, and now I do have respect for these ancient creatures.
For Shark Week, I am posting links to my blog’s shark-related posts, just in case you don’t watch much T.V. and want to learn more about sharks.
Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel, contributed by Sean Van Sommeran
My first post was about a 4,000 lb “great white” shark tagged off Ano Nuevo Island (county of Santa Cruz, California) in the 1990’s and caught by accident in the Sea of Cortez, Baja area of Mexico in 2012.
Sharks have low reproduction rates, and because they are terrific at foraging and as predators in our oceans, the low reproduction rate worked just fine for them. That is.. until the introduction of modern fishing methods. Today, many shark species are considered threatened or endangered, and some sharks in the U.S. are regionally extinct. More here…
Shark photo from U.S. – NOAA website
And if you have ever wondered what the chances are of getting hit by lightning vs. being attacked by a shark on U.S. coastlines, there is a blog post with state-by-state details, from 50 years of data. Excerpt:
Over the last few years, there have been shark attacks off a California state-run beach near where we live. The most recent attack involved a 27-year-old surfer, in October of last year. Thankfully, the attacks were not fatal.
Of course if you stay out of the water, your shark attack chances are zero. But for those who love spending time and activities in the ocean, and have a fear of sharks, this post lists statistics and information that should allay your shark attack fears. More here…
And the rest of my shark-related post are:
- On the practice of shark finning, and why the Chinese communist party ban on extravagant items like expensive shark fin soups from official banquets will likely save some sharks from extinction.
- About sharks and their man-eater label…and image problem. Was that a shark attack or a shark encounter?
- About the smallest shark in the world (about 5 inches long) that the Japanese call tsuranagakobitozame
- And lastly, about a shark tracking app that relates locally to the Monterey Bay and conservation efforts — a project by Marine biologist Barbara Block,
Did you know…. fossil records show that the ancestors of modern sharks swam in our oceans over 400 million years ago? That makes them older than dinosaurs! Sharks have changed very little over time.