The Dorsal Fin

In a prime-example of media sensationalism, The Korean Times is reporting in the article, Vacationers Warned After Sharks Spotted, that two hammerheads were spotted off the coast of Tongyoung, South Gyeongsang Province “not far from” Mondol Beach. The article quotes a researcher of the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute as saying, “the hammerhead shark is a violent and dangerous species,” and “Our beaches are no longer safe from sharks.”

Hammerhead sharks: a dangerous and violent species?

In light of Discovery Channel’s recent fear-based ad campaign, I thought I’d revisit Save Our Seas Foundation‘s “Rethink The Shark” ad campaign from 2007. The award-winning ads (based on a well-known scene from Jaws, no less) are proof-positive that an audience-gripping ad campaign can be created, while still maintaining a conservationist-minded theme. The ads were created by advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi Capetown. Three ads were created, all of them with the same lead-in as the ad posted above. The other two ads ended with a kite and a toaster.

I love how the ads take the fear and familiarity of Jaws and turn it around to increase awareness about just how rare fatal shark attacks are.

According to the news section at the Shark Research Committee on July 11, 2009 Brian Hovnanian was involved in an “unprovoked shark attack,” by definition, at least. According to the article an unprovoked attack is defined by “any physical contact between a shark and human, or piece of equipment being utilized by a human, without any know provocative action by the subject which might cause the shark to strike out.”

According to the report, Hovnanian was stand-up paddleboarding when a 5′ shark with a gray back and white underside bumped into his board, hit his calf, and caused him to fall onto the shark and the board. The shark then slid back into the water and swam off.

While I understand the reasoning behind defining an unprovoked shark attack to not necessarily require a victim being bitten, it seems a bit of a stretch to refer to this as an “attack.” Yes, I know that “technically” it meets the criteria of the definition given by the Shark Research Committee, but based on the article it sounds like the shark might have accidentally bumped into the board and ended up on top of it. I’m no expert, but it’s hard to imagine a 5′ shark mistaking a stand-up paddleboard for food and making a bid to attack it from below. Reading a report like this and seeing it deemed as an authenticated attack makes me wonder if shark attack statistics might be over-inflated with similar encounters.