Sharks have become a cause celebre worldwide over their impending wipeout due to the popularity of their fins in Asian cuisine, and we hope that they get well beyond their 15 minutes of fame. Yes, it is absolutely true that sharks are some of the most efficient predators swimming in our oceans, but we’d hardly call their actions diabolic. When you consider the fact that sharks have roamed our planet’s seas for as many as 450 million years, that shark fatalities have averaged just 4.2 annually worldwide between 2006 – 2010, and yet humans are responsible for killing an astonishing 70 – 100 million sharks every year, it’s not hard to see that the scales are tipped far too heavily against the shark. We here at Aquaviews have long championed the case for sharks (here, here, here, and here, for instance), and we hope that our passion to see them remain in the ocean where they belong is shared by as many people as possible across the globe.
We know we don’t have to convince many dive operators in the Bahamas, who make their living showing divers from all over the world that while sharks may be one of the most adept and fearsome predators in the sea, there is as much, if not more, to learn about them as there is to fear. Check out this video of one diver’s excursion into one of the world’s most famous places to see sharks up close and personal: Shark Junction, located in the waters off of Grand Bahama. Were it not for the razor sharp teeth you know reside in those wide mouths, does this look like a dive you’d shy away from?
