Week 7: Untangling the (Sea)Weeds

SAN JOSE – 6 weeks ago, a version of this blog’s name was a minor section. Now, I’ll continue a different story started last week on the trends and potential biases in Australian journalism in the 20th century. Once again, I appreciate your interest in basically “Part 2” of my dive into the developments of articles on sharks in all types of situations over the decades. This blogpost, like the last, will be on the shorter side as I haven’t been able to compile conclusions on each time period I observed and an overarching conclusion summarizing my findings, but I will instead focus on the general changes I’ve noticed as I’ve read through the years. Also, be sure to stick to the end for an interesting achievement for my project.

The Last Worm in the Sand

Returning to last week’s blog, I talked about how I processed the data I was using, how I narrowed down what years I have been investigating, and how I decided what articles to sample in my analysis. If you’d like to learn more about my methodology, you can refer to the section near the top titled “Filtering the Grub from the Gravel” on my Week 6 blog (https://basisindependent.com/schools/ca/silicon-valley/academics/the-senior-year/senior-projects/brandon-t/week-6-collecting-journalistic-samples/). From this point on, I’ll assume you understand my “filtering” process or at least trust me enough to believe what I’ve written.

Summing up the progress I’ve made this week, I’ve made it through the time periods 1969-1976, 1977-1982, and 1985-1991. With these years processed, the only collection of years I have left to comb through is 1992-2000 which I aim to complete early on in this upcoming week.

The Plot Thickens while the Waters Clear

Moving through the two decades I looked at this week, I noticed an interesting and surprisingly, rather clear shift in rhetoric around sharks. While before the 1970’s I stated that positive representations of sharks were extremely rare, the 70’s and 80’s turned that around especially increasing the more modern the article was. What do I believe was the main cause for this shift? Interestingly, Jaws. Now, let me explain. I am not saying that Jaws helped the perception of sharks and my senior project title is completely backwards, absolutely not. However, the movie brought a lot more attention and interest into these animals when previously they were only seen as an obstacle to overcome.

Prior to Jaws’ release in 1974 and 1975, respectively (the book and the hit movie based on it), sharks were an animal and nothing more. They had the potential to kill people, they messed up fishing lines, some of them tasted decent, and it’s an impressive achievement to catch a big one. There was no distinction between more passive and more irritable or territorial sharks. A shark was a shark, and that was it. After Jaws and, to an extent, Blue Water, White Death, a shark documentary before it, sharks, especially White Sharks, were scary, powerful spectacles. Consequently, with this fear, people grew increasingly fascinated and wanted to learn more about the animals, resulting in more funding not only for shark control programs but also for shark research. On the other hand, the openly aggressive and one-note nature of the sharks portrayed in these films only strengthened the beliefs of those worried or vengeful of sharks, creating a two-sided debate around sharks and the danger they truly pose for the public.

This shift in perspective played out in newspaper articles in multiple ways. First, stories on shark discoveries, ancient or novel, such as fossils, new species, or even taggings, were often reported and included news from around the world. Secondly, shark attack reports tended to slow down, likely caused by multiple factors: greater organizational understanding of shark behaviors resulting in more effective shark attack prevention methods, greater public understanding of means to mitigate a potential attack, and the ripple effects of shark overfishing. The reason that I can claim that final point is that there was previously much support for the hunting and killing of sharks that were growing young, and with many sharks’ low reproduction rates, the impact on populations likely started to have its intended effects in terms of shark attacks. Adding on, the descriptions for these shark attacks tended to soften, with reporters and, in some cases, the victims attributing less of the blame on the shark and more on personal negligence, risks associated with the ocean, and natural instinct. Furthermore, shark consumption and its industry did formalize its presence, but it did face more regulation specifically with mercury concentration and illegal fishing for shark fins by Asian fishermen, though no outright ban on the product.

Finally, these decades included back-and-forth discussions between “shark lovers,” like researchers, photographers, and some members of the public, and “shark haters,” like some game fishermen, outspoken members of the public, and shark victims and their families. Arguments from those in favor of sharks revolved around their “attack-when-threatened” behavior, threatened state from fishing, and sympathy particularly to less dangerous species looped in with those that more commonly cause incidents. Arguments against tended to revolve around deep-seated emotion and/or vitriol for the danger sharks could pose, claiming that the “shark problem” has only worsened despite little data proving these statements true. I’m not claiming there is no reason for this fear and frustration, but in many cases, I can’t help but feel there is often some embellishment in many of the stories those worried about sharks tell, either to prove their point or sell a paper.

Overall, these paragraphs were a rough summary and analysis of what I read this past week. This upcoming week will include the formalization of my thoughts into a cohesive argument and timeline and my attempt to connect my findings to similar worldwide trends, such as here on the West Coast.

A Shimmer in the Sand

Thank you for reading or skipping to the end to read my exciting update. In addition to the work I put into my project this week, Kevin and I were interviewed about our senior projects by NBC Bay Area for their upcoming Today in the Bay segment on “Earth Week.” This experience was honestly nerve-wracking but unforgettable and really fulfilled the core purpose of my project, informing others on the hidden beauty in sharks, so I truly appreciate this opportunity given to me by Konnect, BASIS’ PR team, and NBC.

Citations

Malcolm, H., Bruce, B. D., & Stevens, J. D. (2001, September). A Review of the Biology and Status of White Sharks in Australian Waters. CSIRO Marine Research, Hobart. https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/download?pid=procite:1d0d13e5-7a60-4e65-be78-636e6f2dd22e&dsid=DS1.

Numerous Articles from Trove (https://trove.nla.gov.au/) which digitizes numerous historical Australian newspaper articles and collaborates with the National Library of Australia and hundreds of partners around Australia.