Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_9 (find matches)
Year: 1979 (1970s)
Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program
Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology
Publisher: (Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program)
Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina
Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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Sand tiger shark flesh — keeps the sharks circling and in camera range. A fair interpretation requires an acknowledgment of context, Lovin says. "I do not think we should portray sharks like circus animals," he says. Though natural feeding frenzies certainly occur among wild fish of all ilks, sharks can mind their manners when the occasion demands. The proof came in a recent candid video of great white sharks feeding on a seal 27 miles off the coast of San Francisco, as reported in a 1995 article in BBC Wildlife. The unstaged scene was captured on film by a pole-mounted camera dipped below the surface. "... The hidden world below the bloody slicks and wheeling gulls was full of silent activity," writes Ian Fergusson. "Congregating far below the surface melee, four, five or more adult white sharks circled, awaiting any opportunity to collect scraps." Filmmaker Paul Atkins says in the article: "The actual feeding process was so controlled, almost gentle. There was no feeding frenzy, just very slow, deliberate motion and responses to other sharks." This is certainly not the image that the great white — the model for the blockbuster "Jaws" — conjures up for most people. But that tale of a killer shark with a vendetta was unadulterated fiction. After all, few moviegoers would pay to watch the ocean's top predators behaving like they're sharing tea and biscuits with the queen. Lovin admits that he didn't see the 1975 thriller until a decade after its release. "I can see why people, having seen that film, stayed out of the water," he says. Now, with the memory of "Jaws" and much of the hysteria it spawned put squarely to rest, a lot of divers are disappointed if they don't see sharks. Trips to Australia to photograph great whites command up to $10,000, not including air travel, Lovin says. "All over the world there are places where sharks can be fed to a certain degree just so divers can see them," he says. "Sharks are a real tourist attraction now." 6 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1996

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