Sharks: Myths and Realities

Every summer, the ominous display of a dorsal fin sends crowds scurrying for the shore—and newspaper headlines exploding with warnings. Find out why that’s the wrong way to act.

The shark's reputation as a killer was sealed in the public imagination with the 1975 release of Jaws, a movie with imagery so powerful that the book's author, Peter Benchley, devoted the rest of his life to dismantling the character he had helped create. The shark in the book and subsequent film was a brutal, instinctive killer with a dozen rows of jagged teeth and a taste for human flesh. The bloodthirsty great white has become an archetype so pervasive that even a news story reporting on a harmless two-foot sand shark can't resist recalling the Jaws mythos.

The reality of shark attacks, however, is that they are few and far between. Out of hundreds of shark species, only great white, tiger, and bull sharks have been involved in unprovoked attacks. Since 2003, sharks have killed only four people a year on average, according to the International Shark Attack File. That puts your chances of being killed by a shark at 1 in 264 million.

Sharks may not be the relentless killers they're made out to be, but there is still a victim in shark-human interaction—the shark itself. Humans kill more than 100 million sharks a year, resulting in a steep decline in shark populations around the world.

The biggest threat to sharks stems from an Asian delicacy that has grown exponentially popular in recent years: shark fin soup. Often presented at weddings, this thin soup is seasoned with shark fin as a traditional flourish, even though the fin adds no flavor or nutritional value. Unfortunately for sharks, slaughter for their fins results in an inglorious death: once the fins have been sliced off, the sharks are often thrown overboard to die. Shark finning is illegal in many nations, but that doesn't stop fishermen from killing up to 73 million sharks a year.

Millions of other sharks are killed annually for their meat or a liver oil called squalene that is used in cosmetics, or as an incidental bycatch when fishing ships set lines and nets for other seafood species.

Sharks are a vital part of a healthy ocean. Much like wolves in the western United States or tigers in Asia, the presence of sharks indicates a working ecosystem that is healthy at all levels, from microscopic phytoplankton on up the food chain. Sighting a shark, then, should be less a cause for concern than for celebration. Although it wouldn't hurt to give it a little room.

Myth Sharks are hungry man eaters looking for any chance to attack.
Fact Sharks have no desire to eat humans. Most of the "attacks" on humans are a mistake, which is why there are so many more bites than fatalities. There are around 350 species of sharks, but white, tiger, and bull sharks are the species responsible for the majority of all attacks.

Myth Sharks are all the same.
Fact The reality is just the opposite. Shark species are very different in size, appearance, habitat, diet, and behavior. The typical Jaws vision is far from the norm.

Myth Shark attacks are on the rise.
Fact An individual's risk of a shark attack has not increased. With more people swimming, diving, surfing, and boating in waters where sharks live, there are more people interacting with sharks.

Myth Sharks are useless and we would be better off without them.
Fact Sharks are important to the health of ocean ecosystems. As the top predators, sharks keep the food web in balance.

Myth Since sharks provide an economic value through their many products, you might as well use them while you can.
Fact Sharks are actually worth more alive than dead since tourists pay huge sums of money to dive with sharks. Their position in the ecosystem also helps regulate economically important seafood fisheries below them in the food chain.
Shark's fins drying place in Callao, Peru
SAD TRUTHS: Shark fins drying in Callao, Peru (Oceana/LX)


Myth Sharks are unintelligent creatures with walnut-sized brains.
Fact Sharks can exhibit complex social behavior and they have brain-to-body ratios similar to birds and mammals.

Myth Shark fins are tasty, nutritious, and full of medicinal properties.
Fact Shark fins offer no flavor or nutritious value. In fact, as apex predators, sharks accumulate the toxic contaminants, especially mercury, of the animals below them in the food chain.

Myth Shark fins grow back.
Fact If a shark is thrown overboard without its fin, it will not survive.

Myth Sharks don't get cancer.
Fact Studies have shown sharks do in fact get cancer. Consuming shark products will not prevent cancer from occurring in humans.

Myth Sharks have no predators.
Fact Humans are the greatest threat to sharks, killing up to 100 million sharks a year.



By Suzannah Evans