The Dorsal Fin

Numerous media outlets are reporting that a female Sea World Orlando employee was fatally attacked by an orca today. Orlando’s Local 6 identifies the orca involved as Tillikum, a 12,300 lbs. male. Park manager, Dan Brown, identified the victim as being one of the park’s “most experienced trainers.” According to the Local 6 report, the victim slipped and fell into the orca’s tank and was subsequently attacked by the orca.

Unfortunately, it seems that orcas have become just as susceptible to media sensationalism as sharks. This ABC clip is a prime example…

The clip plays out more like a guy announcing a pro-wrestling match than it does a news story. This is an incredibly tragic story, as such, it needs to be handled objectively with journalistic integrity, instead of being covered like it was a monster truck rally.

Australia’s The 7pm Project has recently posted the following feature on declining shark populations on YouTube.

The video addresses the effects of overfishing and finning on shark populations. Unfortunately, the feature is plagued with the “magic number”, claiming 100 million sharks are killed each year, which is not backed by any solid research (research-backed estimates put the number in 26 million to 73 million range, which is staggering in its own right).

Magic numbers aside, the feature does bring up valid points, including how the media has helped to contribute to misconceptions about the dangers of sharks toward humans. Ian Gordon points out that most people know very little about shark behavior and biology. He also notes that he has been around sharks for 30 years and if sharks were as dangerous as many people believe, he would likely be dead by now.

CBS12, this is not an award for outstanding journalism.

Another media outlet has their own great white shark related report regarding yesterday’s tragic attack off of Stuart, Florida. This one is has an even more misrepresentative headline than the Palm Beach Post “report” from earlier today. CBS12.com features a story with the headline, Expert: Great White Shark could have been behind fatal attack. The report features statements from Gary Gross, a biology professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University, who is quoted as saying, “Great whites in our area are very uncommon. They are mostly in deep waters where it’s colder. There has never been an attack here by a white shark.” In fact, the only other mention of white sharks by Professor Gross in the report deals with large sharks mistaking a kite surfer for a turtle, in which Gross is quoted as saying such a scenario is a “white shark situation.” However, Gross goes on to speculate that the attacking shark was “likely a bull shark.” (Currently, there is also no evidence to support or oppose the theory that the sharks involved in the attack were bull sharks.)

CBS12 really seems to be stretching things here. The headline suggests that Gross has indicated that he believes a white shark could be behind yesterday’s attack. However, the statements from Gross within the article suggest that he does not think that great white sharks were involved. Perhaps, a more representative headline would have read, Expert: Highly unlikely great white shark involved in attack. Of course, that might not draw nearly as much attention. It seems that media outlets have realized that great white sharks seem to draw more attention than other shark species, and the mass number of stories running with the great white shark theory (which isn’t backed up by any evidence in this particular case) just goes to show that sometimes the number of viewers/readers a story draws can overshadow truly objective reporting.

At the end of the day experts weighing in on the species involved or not involved is still nothing more than speculation, until some more details and evidence regarding the attack is available.

Kudos to Rory Gibson of Australia’s Courier Mail, for his article, Hysteria over shark risk to swimmers unfounded. His commentary on the media and public reaction to the story about a photo of mauled great white shark caught on a drum line last month is both entertaining and poignant. Gibson points out, in a very tongue-in-cheek nature, that relatively low risks of shark attacks on humans, and stresses the need for conservation of the great white shark as a species. He is also critical of the Queensland shark control program, which “indiscriminantly kills a creature listed as vulnerable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.” Gibson suggests a moratorium on shark nets and drum lines until a non-lethal solution for managing white shark populations can be devised. Check out the entire article at the Courier Mail.

UK media outlets, The Sun, the Telegraph, and the Daily Mail, have all run photos from Amos Nachoum taken at Guadalupe this fall. The one photo in particular that seems to be drawing the most attention from the media outlets is head-on shot of a “smiling” white shark that the media outlets are comparing to the character Bruce, from Pixar’s Finding Nemo.

This photo might not look like Bruce from Finding Nemo.
But, it does show that you can take a close-up of a smiling great white shark from inside a cage at Guadalupe.

While the head-on shark photo may be the center of attention for the average viewer, I have a feeling that one of the other photos, which features an underwater photographer diving cage-less in close proximity with a white shark, will likely cause some shark diving operators to cringe when they see it. Amos’ decision to take recreational divers cage-less at Isla de Guadalupe recently drew sharp criticism from some shark diving operators, as well as shark diving blogs, including Underwater Thrills: Swimming with Sharks and The Best Shark Dive Ever, due to the fact that it is against the law to offer cage-less dives on a commercial level at Isla de Guadalupe. The appearance of these images in the mainstream UK media probably are not going to alleviate that criticism, as Mr. Nachoum’s media promotion of this illegal dive will likely serve only to further threaten legitimate dive operations at Isla de Guadalupe.

Following hot on the heels of the “monster shark” hysteria, The Sun refers to the white shark in the photo as “giant,” while the Daily Mail calls it “gigantic.” The actual length of the shark was reported as 14′ (4.25 meters) in length.