The Feeding Frenzy

More inshore bait (and more flying cameras) made 2022 the summer of the shark.

- Rip Cunningham

We, the greater human population, have always had a fascination with things that potentially are a threat to us. Think poisonous snake strikes, alligator chomps, shark bites or lightning strikes. At the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the same sort of insatiable fascination with winning the Mega Millions lottery. The odds of any happening are close to the same.

The movie Jaws was a catalyst in bringing sharksand the fear of sharks-into the mainstream. A lot of people I know would no longer swim at night in the ocean (or even at night in a swimming pool) after viewing the movie.

During the summer of 2022, we experienced a "they're baaaaaaaaack" moment. Sharks were constantly on the evening TV news and in the daily papers. Should this be a scary moment or simply viewed as the natural balance of the ocean environment? I tend to think the latter.