Publisher’s Notebook

• Snarky Shark Sniping •

ANNE SOBLE

Fortunately for the status of shark-human relations, close encounters in local waters usually go unnoticed or, even when they are noticed, are relatively benign. Ironically, when there is a shark sighting, it is the media that usually bite—hook, line and sinker. They not only bite, but swallow and disgorge shark sightings again, and again, and again.
This time, what started out as a randomly fortuitous shark sighting that could have been a timely reminder that the ocean is home to a diverse array of species was transmogrified into a virtual bloodbath between sharks and humans after it was filtered through the fingers of a couple dozen bloggers and translated into twice that many languages.
Last Thursday’s great white sighting also turned out to be a publicist’s dream of free publicity for an absolutely dreadful movie showing on cable two days later that started out as “Goblin Shark Attack” but was renamed “Malibu Shark Attack” for all the reasons anything is ever named after the community.
This latest blight on Malibu’s reputation was ostensibly produced Down Under and should have stayed there. The prehistoric goblin sharks looked like critters my son used to draw when he was four years old. The performers were rejects from central casting and subjected our fair town to enough stereotyping to make the local paparazzi palatable.
We were compelled to find out whether the recent white sighting was a stunt for the movie, but the local videographer who shot the footage said he bemoans the fact that the sighting became entangled with the movie premiere, as bloggers arbitrarily blurred the lines between fact and fiction.
When one watches the human reaction to great white sharks, either in movies or when a captured animal is subjected to public display, it’s clear why they need to be a protected species. The fear of these creatures is out of proportion to the danger. Being attacked by a great white is even less likely than being struck by lightning and far more preventable.
If the latest shark to-do has any redeeming social value, it’s a reminder that we share the ocean with beings much smaller and much larger than we are, and they all have a place. Instead of fear and caricature, there should be cautious respect and appreciation. The great white is a perfect work of design for its role in the balance of marine life.
The irrational fear of sharks that is stoked by the media and others should be seen for what it often is—an attempt to prey upon the human subconscious because doing so is a sure-fire moneymaker.