JAKARTA - Many Hollywood shark films have portrayed this big fish as a very dangerous apex predator. Now, it is considered as an obstacle to conservation efforts for the fish that occupy the top of the food chain in the ocean.
According to the study, 96 percent of the 109 shark films listed on the online database iMDB described interactions between humans and the apex predator as a 'blatant' threat. Only three percent of the films 'quietly' portrayed shark-human interactions as potentially threatening. While one film does not include potentially threatening interactions.
Much of that impact came from the 1975 blockbuster 'Jaws,'. The film drastically changed the way society viewed sharks, especially the great white shark.
Since Jaws, there have been several monster shark movies like Open Water, The Meg, 47 Meters Down, Sharknado. All of those films blatantly present sharks as terrifying creatures with an insatiable appetite for human flesh.
"This is not true," said Dr. Briana Le Busque, a Shark researcher from the University of South Australia.
According to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), there were 57 unprovoked cases of shark attacks on humans in 2020. This figure is down from the 2015-2019 average of 80 attacks per year.
While the figure is low, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 10 people died from shark attacks in 2020. This is the highest figure since 2013, something experts have described as an "unbelievably deadly year." While the average human death due to unprovoked shark attacks is four per year.
More than two percent of the 548 shark species known to have attacked humans. However, these three, the bull shark, the great white shark, and the tiger shark, are the sharks that attack humans the most.
In the United States, currently the probability of a human being killed by a shark is 3.7 million to 1 case. Even ISAF, as quoted by USA Today, notes that bees, wasps and dogs kill more people inside the US than sharks.
“Sharks pose a much greater risk of harm from humans than humans to sharks. This is causing the global shark population to rapidly decline, and many species are at risk of extinction,” added Dr Le Busque.
“Exacerbating fear of sharks disproportionately to the threat, actually undermines shark conservation efforts. Often it influences people to support potentially dangerous mitigation strategies,” he added.
“There is no doubt that Jaws' legacy remains, but we must pay attention to how the film depicts sharks to capture film audiences. This is an important step towards debunking shark myths and establishing safe shark conservation," said Dr Le Busque.
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