Scientists, Don’t Call Them ‘Shark Attacks’


Most of the time nothing happens when people are near sharks. People often unannounced.

“If you’ve ever been in the ocean, there was probably a shark nearby, and it probably knew you were there even if you didn’t know it was there,” said marine biologist and author of the book, David Shiffman.Why Are Sharks Important?“Dr. Macdonald and a team recently discovered a wonderful hammerhead nursery on the shores of Miamifor example – the first to be found on the Atlantic coast of the United States.

The move away from the word “attack” has drawn some criticism. Founder of Bite Cluba support group for survivors. Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Friday if new terms are accepted, “when a big white person chews on your leg it’s a ‘negative interaction’.”

However, Dr. Shiffman said the new terms are “not about PC culture going crazy.”

“It’s about being right without being inflammatory,” he said. “Inflamed coverage scares people away from sharks and could potentially mean less support for their conservation and potentially support for their extinction.”

Thanks to the movie “Jaws” and popular culture like it, sharks have gotten the “bad end of the PR stick,” said Jasmin Graham, head of Minorities in Shark Scientists and a marine biologist at the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota. fla. “Everyone has a collective negative reaction to them,” he said, “and it’s based on the media we consume.”

Chris Lowe, professor at California State University in Long Beach and director of the Shark Lab, compared the public’s perception of sharks to the popular 19th-century image of whales as “evil beasts” that “kill people.”

By the 1970s, public opinion had changed radically, as whales were almost on the verge of extinction. People He could see images of harpooning whalesand the message spread that whales are mammals that suckle their young and communicate vocally through clicks, chirps, and songs.

Dr. Lowe said it was “the best rebranding ever”.

“We have tons of images of sharks and humans together, and people don’t get bitten,” he said. “Then why should we be afraid?”



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