fairybasslet
Contributor
that emphasized how scary the sharks were, and how the author ducked down to hide from the sharks so he wouldn't get bitten. And the headline was "FEAR FACTOR: Diving with sharks in the Bahamas." Man, I was so ticked off. So they published my letter today with a cool shark photo to illustrate it. Here's is the letter (with my name removed for obvious reasons
:
It is too bad The Record missed a golden opportunity to educate the public about the serious threats to the shark population, focusing instead on "scary...really scary," "insane" and "Will it bite me?" aspects of diving with sharks ("Fear Factor," Travel, Page T-1, May 21).
Sharks are truly a threatened species. The Florida Museum of Natural History says shark populations in the North Atlantic have plummeted by more than half since 1986, primarily because of overfishing. The loss of top predators such as the great white and hammerhead affect marine food chains.
Add in the absolutely brutal practice of shark finning -- cutting off the sharks' fins and throwing them back into the ocean while they are still alive, leaving them to drown in a slow and agonizing death, all to make the elitist shark fin soup -- and you can see that sharks have a lot more to fear from us than we do from them.
As a diver, I am always asked the same question by non-divers: "Aren't you afraid you'll get eaten by a shark?" Rather than try to impress them with how brave I am, I choose to point out that the sharks usually swim away when you try to approach them.
Sure, sometimes divers have unwelcome encounters with sharks. But that's probably because the diver either provoked a shark or did not listen to briefing instructions, such as turning off dive lights on safety stops during night dives.
If divers want to continue to see sharks, it would be prudent to use their experiences with sharks as opportunities to act as ambassadors for these threatened predators, rather than as platforms for macho storytelling. And it would behoove The Record to reconsider thrill-seeking headlines.
:It is too bad The Record missed a golden opportunity to educate the public about the serious threats to the shark population, focusing instead on "scary...really scary," "insane" and "Will it bite me?" aspects of diving with sharks ("Fear Factor," Travel, Page T-1, May 21).
Sharks are truly a threatened species. The Florida Museum of Natural History says shark populations in the North Atlantic have plummeted by more than half since 1986, primarily because of overfishing. The loss of top predators such as the great white and hammerhead affect marine food chains.
Add in the absolutely brutal practice of shark finning -- cutting off the sharks' fins and throwing them back into the ocean while they are still alive, leaving them to drown in a slow and agonizing death, all to make the elitist shark fin soup -- and you can see that sharks have a lot more to fear from us than we do from them.
As a diver, I am always asked the same question by non-divers: "Aren't you afraid you'll get eaten by a shark?" Rather than try to impress them with how brave I am, I choose to point out that the sharks usually swim away when you try to approach them.
Sure, sometimes divers have unwelcome encounters with sharks. But that's probably because the diver either provoked a shark or did not listen to briefing instructions, such as turning off dive lights on safety stops during night dives.
If divers want to continue to see sharks, it would be prudent to use their experiences with sharks as opportunities to act as ambassadors for these threatened predators, rather than as platforms for macho storytelling. And it would behoove The Record to reconsider thrill-seeking headlines.
