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Shark Attack: Maneaters and Men
Renowned marine conservationist and artist Richard Ellis addresses the popular myths, misconceptions, and exploits of great white sharks, tiger sharks, bull sharks, and the many other species that roam the waters of our planet.
Do sharks deserve their universally bad reputation? Sharks are clearly not harmless—Shark Attack includes many true stories of seemingly unwarranted attacks on humans. Yet if sharks truly were vengeful carnivores, no beach on earth would be safe for fishing, surfing, or swimming. Ellis argues that Jaws, the popular 1975 film that misrepresented sharks in almost every detail, has damaged our perception of sharks. Today, museums and aquariums endeavor to rehabilitate the shark’s image, and environmentalists and animal rights activists struggle to slow relentless overfishing. Yet their efforts may be too late to save hundreds of shark species from near or total extinction.
Do sharks deserve their universally bad reputation? Sharks are clearly not harmless—Shark Attack includes many true stories of seemingly unwarranted attacks on humans. Yet if sharks truly were vengeful carnivores, no beach on earth would be safe for fishing, surfing, or swimming. Ellis argues that Jaws, the popular 1975 film that misrepresented sharks in almost every detail, has damaged our perception of sharks. Today, museums and aquariums endeavor to rehabilitate the shark’s image, and environmentalists and animal rights activists struggle to slow relentless overfishing. Yet their efforts may be too late to save hundreds of shark species from near or total extinction.
- GenresAnimals
54 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
17 people want to read
About the author
Richard Ellis
29 books59 followersRichard Ellis is a celebrated authority on marine biology and America’s foremost marine life artist whose work has been exhibited worldwide. His nine books include The Search for the Giant Squid (a Publishers Weekly 1998 Best Book of the Year), Great White Shark, Encyclopedia of the Sea, Men and Whales, Monsters of the Sea, Deep Atlantic The Book of Whales, and Imagining Atlantis.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 17, 2013
Really interesting about man's realtionship, or lack thereof, with sharks. Looks at current issues as well as the impact of movies. Ellis does not paint the shark out to be the fluffy dog of the sea, he is realstic, but still very passionate. There are some typos, but still a very good read about shark as well as analysis of various attacks. He does not answer the question that this book raised in my head - why are men the pre-dominate vics?
March 21, 2023
Good ebook with a smattering of photos. It started with grisly accounts of shark attacks on humans which, I admit, draw me like a horror movie. But the book went on to cover the reverse -- the grisly attacks of humans on sharks, the majority for shark fin soup.
"In some parts of the world, finning is so widespread that the local populations of sharks have become endangered."... "In 1991, 2,289 sharks were landed in Honolulu. By 1998, the number had leaped to 60,857 ... and, of that total, 99 percent was for fins."
"...90 percent of the sharks in the world's oceans have disappeared. ... [T]hey're among the most vulnerable animals. The whole food web becomes bollixed when you take out the top-level predators."
"Each year, commercial and recreational fishing kills more than 100 million sharks globally (the number of humans killed by sharks in 2008: four) ... 73 million for their fins. The fins are sliced off and the sharks dumped back in the water; unable to swim, they sink to the bottom and die."
"Every second, three sharks are killed. At this rate, the United Nations predicts that all sharks will be extinct in fifteen years." (The book was published in 2013, so not quite, but still...)
If you don't get enough of the grisly horror, there's another list at the end of the surfers and divers that didn't make it. (The sharks' revenge!)
The author ends with a call to save these amazing ocean predators before they're all ground into shark fin soup. But the tide is turning and there is some reason to hope if we can save them in time.
"In some parts of the world, finning is so widespread that the local populations of sharks have become endangered."... "In 1991, 2,289 sharks were landed in Honolulu. By 1998, the number had leaped to 60,857 ... and, of that total, 99 percent was for fins."
"...90 percent of the sharks in the world's oceans have disappeared. ... [T]hey're among the most vulnerable animals. The whole food web becomes bollixed when you take out the top-level predators."
"Each year, commercial and recreational fishing kills more than 100 million sharks globally (the number of humans killed by sharks in 2008: four) ... 73 million for their fins. The fins are sliced off and the sharks dumped back in the water; unable to swim, they sink to the bottom and die."
"Every second, three sharks are killed. At this rate, the United Nations predicts that all sharks will be extinct in fifteen years." (The book was published in 2013, so not quite, but still...)
If you don't get enough of the grisly horror, there's another list at the end of the surfers and divers that didn't make it. (The sharks' revenge!)
The author ends with a call to save these amazing ocean predators before they're all ground into shark fin soup. But the tide is turning and there is some reason to hope if we can save them in time.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews