[Previous entry: "SHARK STORIES ............ the most interesting points"] [Next entry: "GREY NURSE ........ Early morning at Big Seal Rock"]
07/06/2007: "SHARK MYTHS EXAMINED"
Undated, published pictures appearing regularly over many years helped create the currently accepted myth that hundreds of sharks were involved, reality was otherwise.
It was a few sharks with the same pictures published regularly over a long period of time that had some believing many sharks were victims.
News value in hunting sharks underwater for documentaries lasted briefly and was over by 1967. North American TV networks rejected buying such product. The change was on the way and has grown ever since.
People who write about shark hunting figures borrow the information from previous writers.
For years the largest known white pointer shark/great white shark was listed at 36.5 feet and caught at Port Fairy, Australia. Eventually scientists agreed the set of jaws in a British museum were more likely from a shark 16.5 feet in length and certainly not the larger.
This is a common example of one error turned into a fact that lasted for decades.
Errors with the number of grey nurse sharks killed by spear fishermen in the 1960's, often quoted by writers borrowing flawed material by others have been allowed to continue unchecked, until recently.
Those who know better, fed-up with years of half-truths in the media, are attempting to set the record straight.
