More On Shark Week
This past week
was the 117th annual “Shark Week” on The Discovery Channel. I’m fascinated by sharks and enjoy this week
of shark shows. If I have any complaint
it is on the premise of almost every show:
Tag a shark to gain
valuable information on these incredible creatures so that we may better
understand and protect them because if the sharks disappear, the Earth's ecology
will be upset and all species will eventually die off including MAN!! This research is INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!!
The latest
show I saw was a free diver trying to shoot a thresher shark in the dorsal fin
to implant a tag, something never done before, probably because no one has ever
tried before. This valuable research expedition
which was needed to save all mankind and the Earth from destruction, involved
weeks of tracking, expensive boats, cameras high paid oceanographers and
skilled divers.
The show had
great videos of sharks and generated much excitement as the free diver risked
his life swimming with sharks at depths which allowed him only seconds to plant
the valuable mankind saving tag into a thresher shark.
In the final
scene, the diver creeps up on a thresher shark at 200 feet below the
surface. He is almost out of air and
must get off the shot quickly or mankind is doomed. He fires and
SUCCESS!!
The shark is
tagged and the free diver makes it to the surface with only seconds to spare.
MANKIND IS SAVED!!
There are
high fives all around as the announcer gleefully tells us this is the first
time a thresher has been tagged and the tag will give us “valuable information on these incredible
creatures so that we may better understand and protect them because if the
sharks disappear, the Earth's ecology will be upset and all species will
eventually die off including MAN!!”
Call me a
skeptic, but if this one friggin tag in one thresher shark that has a one in a
million chance of ever being retrieved to give us all the valuable information
on the shark’s habits, is our hope to save the species and ultimately all of
MANKIND, I think we are in big trouble.
Let’s face
it, this tagging was interesting and fun sport for a free diver and made for an
exciting “Shark Week” segment. They probably
were paid handsomely by the Discovery Channel for the video, and we may learn
something about a thresher shark, but I really doubt that the existence of
mankind hung in the balance of this tagging any more than the science fiction
defeat of giant radioactive vegetables in the famed movie thriller “The Attack
of the Killer Tomatoes.”
Oops, gotta
go. There is a new show coming on where
scientists need the gather the DNA of a “Stripped Horned Gobblin Shark.”
Turns out
they need this information or the Planet is doomed!
Oh, the drama kings and queens. Why can't something be purely interesting?
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't have been necessary if Billy Goat Gruff hadn't beat up the Bridge Troll.
ReplyDeleteWe're doomed!!
ReplyDeleteProbably did more to save the network's bacon than the world.
ReplyDeleteThe planet is 'doomed' anyway but please...lots more information on sharks if you don't mind. I can't stand the not knowing lol.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if humans were doomed, the sharks would be safe to live out their lives in peace, untagged.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see a series of posts on 90 Day Fiance. Just sayin.
ReplyDeleteHow can it be the 117th ANNUAL Shark Week on the Discovery Channel? Television hadn't even been invented 117 years ago, much less the Discovery Channel.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how doomed we would be if he accidentally missed the sharks dorsal fin and hit a dolphins tail fin instead, would the different data save us or flip the whole world upside down?
ReplyDeleteJimmy makes an interesting point. There's a lot of hype in these shows with maybe a tiny grain of truth, we do need to look after our oceans and fish much better. Getting rid of those islands of plastic waste floating around would be a good start. A more concerted world-wide effort in teaching people not to randomly toss away plastic etc would be good too.
ReplyDeleteThose Gobblin sharks are freaky!
ReplyDeleteNow I'm scaaaaarrrrt:) I think there is a redneck shark that I dare them to try and tag. It lives in the creek not far from here :)
ReplyDeleteWhat's a thresher shark? Never heard of it! I need to up my game here.
ReplyDeleteI don't follow Shark Week. But I HAVE watched a YouTube video on the SHARKNADO slot machine! There's 11 minutes of my life that died off because of a shark.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1kxlEz5UhU
Is that an exaggeration with the 117th Shark Week? Has TV been around that long? I was glad I was never the kind of swimmer/surfer growing up in Southern California and living there for long stretches that when I visited he beach there was no threat of any shark attacks/sightings. Wading at water's edge was about my speed.
ReplyDeletebetty
I agree with you but still, who doesn't love Shark Week?
ReplyDelete