It’s one of the most memorable lines from the 1975 Spielberg classic JAWS. Every year during NatGeo’s Sharkfest and Discovery’s Shark Week, I think of this line. Sharkfest begins on Sunday the 10th on National Geographic. You can find it on Disney+ streaming and perhaps other services as well.
I always look forward to the marine biology and little tidbits of shark science that are either new to me or that I have forgotten. Decades ago, Susan and I would go deep sea fishing out of Port Aransas. Our quarry was usually Red Snapper or Shark. There were many such group fishing trips, and eventually the fishermen depleted the stocks of shark species like black-tipped sharks.
I haven’t been on such a trip in several decades, but I believe that the state has imposed parameters (quotas and size limits) on the catch. That’s a must to sustain a stable ecology because we humans are so intemperate in our activities. For instance, it isn’t enough that we cull a few bison for food and hides; we seem compelled to hunt them to extinction – never appreciating that we are placing our own species on the precipice as we do so.
I hope you have time to enjoy this year’s Sharkfest. Just imagine that you can hear the minor second in your mind – dum, dum … dum, dum … dum dum dum dum. Yikes!