Sharks are AWESOME.
And I mean that in the literal definition of the word.
Sharks truly do inspire awe. At least for me. I am filled with reverence and admiration for their amazing strength and beauty. (Yes I did say beauty)
I have mixed feelings about Shark Week. I love some of the shows and despise others. I love the science shows, like the Dirty Jobs one with the Greenland Shark. Or the various ones about shark research. And all of the Air Jaws episodes, including this most recent one. Because flying sharks are just so wonderful. Truly the definition of awesome.
I also thoroughly enjoyed last night's show How Jaws Changed the World and tonight's Shark Fight. So far, at least, I like how at least 50% of Shark Week's shows for their 25th anniversary have focused on the need to conserve sharks. Protect them. Truly, sharks are vital to our ocean ecosystems. We would not want to live in a world without sharks. The trophic cascade that would occur would likely be catastrophic to the ocean ecosystems so many people around the world depend on for their food, money, and livelihoods. The reefs I snorkel on in Hawai'i are noticeably devoid of the reef sharks that should rule the reef.
Why? Because we are killing sharks. 20-100 million sharks per year on average. And this needs to stop. Sharks can teach us so many important things about the world: about the ocean, about ourselves, about how we can treat various diseases, etc.
And Shark Week has done a great job so far of expressing the need for conservation. =)
I do wish, though, that Shark Week would do some more science-y shows focusing on all 350species of sharks. Like the cute little dogfish and coral catsharks. Leopard sharks, horn sharks, bamboo sharks. Wobbegongs. Epaulettes. Etc. I understand that the great whites, lemons, bulls, tigers are more terrifying and awe-inspiring to most of the world. So Discovery will get more ratings by showing those sharks. And reef sharks are important, so I'm glad they focus on those. But I very much believe that to truly understand and admire sharks, people need to understand just how prevalent sharks are and how many different roles they play in our oceans.
Save the sharks! They cannot speak for themselves, so we need to be the voice for them. :D
Cheers!
Inspirational quote/photo of the day: "It's never been a perfect world. It's never going to be. It's going to be hard and scary, and if you're lucky, wonderful and awe-inspiring. But you have to push through the bad parts to get to the good." -Carrie Ryan, The Dead-Tossed Waves
Word of the day: susurration--whispering, murmuring, or rustling
Days until Hawai'i: 8
Shark of the day: Megamouth Shark
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