Sharks are beautiful marine animals that linger around our oceans. Unfortunately, there are common misconceptions about them. Sharks were a huge topic over the summer, they normally are, but it was especially big this summer. This began in early June, when a woman and two female teenagers were involved in shark attacks in Walton County, Florida. Everyone online went berserk, drone footage of sharks swimming near the shore, or even miles out. What people seem to forget though, is that this is their home. We don’t get shocked when we see humans walking around, so why are sharks so feared when they are just living in their home? Especially if they are carrying the ocean on their backs.
I had the opportunity to speak to Ms. Baker, one of the science teachers at our school, she teaches Enviormental Science, AP Enviormental Science, and Marine Science. I happen to take her marine course and I am loving it!
Sharks are often depicted as these bone-crushing creatures, who lurk in our dark ocean, but in fact, they are not. Sharks are simple animals who are just trying to survive in their habitat, Ms. Baker says, “I think sharks get a bad rep, especially because of the movie ‘Jaws'”. The 1975 film set a view on sharks that would never be forgotten, in the movie, there is a scene where you can see a shark tearing up a human, but sharks don’t even eat humans. Eating a human is not a goal for sharks, Ms. Baker explains, “Sharks don’t necessarily eat humans, what people make the mistake of doing is swimming in an area with seals.” Seals are a food source for sharks, just like humans eat pigs and chickens. At times, sharks mistake humans for seals, especially surfers because the flat board with their legs hanging off the side mimics the bottom of a seal. Think about it like this: As we know, everyone says, “Save the turtles!” But why do they say this? It is because of our excessive amounts of plastic in the ocean, in the context of turtles, this is bad for them because plastic often looks like a jellyfish, which is one of their food sources.
Sharks are apex predators, they carry our ecosystem in various ways. The beautiful fish remove the sick and weak, so they are constantly maintaining it and keeping it balanced. There is severe overfishing in the seas and over 100 million sharks are killed due to commercial fishing.
Many people do not know the full story around sharks and those are the ones who get upset when they see sharks at the beach. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being afraid of sharks, but it is frustrating when people freak out even though that is where they live. Shark attacks are rare, and they are often accidents, they are curious creatures who want to see what is going on most of the time as opposed to being aggressive.
I asked Ms. Baker, “How can we change this negative view on sharks?” She responded, “Research.” We need to bring this issue to the public and show them the true nature of sharks, their importance, and their value to the ecosystem.
