The annual Shark Week programming extravaganza is kicking off in the midst of a summer in which Floridians have again been conditioned to fear nature.
Just last month, Hollywood celebrated the 50th anniversary of the summer blockbuster “Jaws,” which instilled terror in the public about sharks, especially in beach-going Florida, and launched a decades-long massive killing spree of the oceanic apex predator. Also in June, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida officials unveiled their “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center in the Big Cypress region, with jokes and sardonic warnings that escapees would be devoured by surrounding Everglades wildlife.
Naturalists and others were critical of the Alligator Alcatraz moniker, saying the imagery, mockery and bombastic comments are a “disservice” to these lands and Florida’s outdoors.
“It really is a beautiful place that should be appreciated and people should visit, not fear,” said Curtis Osceola, a member of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and senior executive policy adviser to Tribe Chairman Talbert Cypress.
Rosie Moore, a diver and geoscientist from Delray Beach, stars in Netflix’s latest reality series, “All the Sharks.”
Jaws anniversary, Shark Week take place as four beachgoers bitten
The unfounded stereotype of the man-eating sharks deliberately targeting or “attacking” humans on coastlines was reenforced July 18 when a surfer in New Smyrna Beach was bitten by a shark, the fourth case of a shark bite in that area this year.
Shark researchers and marine biologists have long pointed to reams of science and data proving that sharks do not seek to devour on people, as the mechanical shark in “Jaws” did, but simply mistake them for prey. Once they bite a human and realize their mistake, they generally let go and swim away, experts note.
Angela Smith, president of the marine conservation, education and research group Shark Team One, said the organization continues to “dispel any myths that have been caused” by the movie but nonetheless has seen an increase in public anxiety this summer.
“We’ve recently seen a resurgence of the Jaws Effect (fear and negative perception of sharks fueled by the movie),” Smith wrote in an email to The Palm Beach Post. “The movie contained inaccurate portrayals about shark behavior and even suggested that sharks could display human traits such as vindictive behavior, which of course they aren’t capable of.”
While Shark Week touts educational and research programs, it also promotes a number of thrill-based shows that shark advocates such as Smith find overly sensational and reaffirming of incorrect views. The weeklong showings on the Discovery Channel launched July 20.
Experts: Sharks have more reason to fear humans
Smith noted the surge in catch-and-kill shark-fishing tournaments and the targeting of sharks for sport that followed the movie’s 1975 release. It is estimated that as many as 100 million sharks are killed each year by humans, either in targeted fishing or as by-catch in the search for tuna and other species.
“Jaws created many conservation issues and contributed to the near demise of certain shark species,” she said, but added there were some positive results, too. “However, the film also created curiosity about sharks and spurred a generation of students becoming interested in studying and working to conserve sharks. In the decades after the movie ‘Jaws,’ great white sharks eventually became protected in many countries with the help of these shark scientists and conservationists.”
Despite the conservation and education efforts, Smith wrote it may still “take many more decades” before the populations of certain shark species rebound. More than a third of the world’s shark populations are in danger of becoming extinct, she noted.
“Global problems for sharks mainly come from issues such as unsustainable overfishing and habitat loss however, not misconceptions solely caused by Hollywood,” she added..
Smith said efforts to spur a healthier ocean, and increases in shark populations, require a better and broader understanding of the role the species play. She said sharks keep fish populations healthy by maintaining balance within ocean ecosystems.
“Understanding and learning to respect sharks will make us better caretakers of the ocean, help us to save valuable fisheries resources and protect ocean ecosystems for future generations,” she said.
Florida fear-mongering its own terrestrial endangered species
The Everglades detention center’s opening July 1 was accompanied by quips alluding to the wildlife around the facility. Snakes, alligators and other wildlife, both DeSantis and President Donald Trump joked, provided an escape-proof perimeter, suggesting animals in the area would devour those who sought to get away.
“You bring people in there, they ain’t going anywhere … because good luck getting to civilization. So the security is amazing,” DeSantis said in a press conference, eliciting chuckles. “Natural and otherwise.”
Trump joked that they would have to teach detainees seeking to be fugitives to not run in a straight line when they get chased by gators.
“And you know what? Your chances go up about 1%,” Trump said, after earlier noting that “this is not a nice business.”
In reality, however, outdoorsmen, tribal members and ecologists who have lived, recreated and studied the Big Cypress and Everglades said, it is the endangered species and wildlife that has more to fear from the added human footprint on their habitat.
Gladesmen, people who have lived or visiting the area for decades, say they worry about impact the development will have on drinking water and wildlife. One of them, Justin Cunningham, said last month that he fears its effect on roseate spoonbills, eagles, bears, turkeys and other fauna.
“We have every animal that’s listed on the endangered species list in Florida making a home out here,” Cunningham said.
A Japanese leopard shark swims in a tank at the Boca Aquarium inside Diamonds at Raymond Lee jewelry store in Boca Raton.
Tribal member: Live with nature, don’t ‘fear’ it
Osceola said light pollution at the site has increased exponentially at night and the chemical spraying for mosquito control strikes at the diet of the Florida bonneted bat.
“There’s a lot of emphasis on the danger of these lands,” he said. “But the danger isn’t alligators and pythons.” Osceola also said the pythons and gators are actually not in abundance by the detention center as “they nest in deeper waters.”
“The imagery that’s being invoked is of aggression, of this kind of wild beast-like environment,” he added. “It doesn’t connect with the reality. My family go out there, gather herbs for medicine. My friends go hiking. They put on their boots and they go in the water and they have no fear.”
Besides the impact on the flora and fauna, Osceola also worries the Alligator Alcatraz connotations will incur other profound damage.
“There’s something to be said about not trying to divorce humanity from the world around it,” he said. “We as natives see that a lot in Western society, and we advocate for reconnection so people can understand that this world that they came from, this world that allows us to subsist, we need to live in harmony with it. We shouldn’t fear it.”
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Shark Week airs as Alligator Alcatraz, bites at beaches scare Florida