The release of Jaws was
a disaster for sharks

The oceans and their biodiversity are in serious trouble

By Irwin Rapoport

July 3, 2025

Last week, I wrote Jaws Turns 50 and Still Fascinates, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the release of Jaws, an instant hit portraying a great white shark as the serial killer antagonist. This sparked a global fascination with all things sharks, creatures that have inhabited the oceans for 450 million years, predating trees.

However, there was a serious downside to the film, which led to a global fear of sharks, and sadly, many large sharks were hunted, especially great whites, because of it. Australian audiences were very aware of large sharks, especially great whites, and, to this day, numerous beaches down under have controversial and deadly shark net barriers which kill many sharks, large and small, as well as dolphins, sea turtles, and smaller fish. There are also nets along some South African beaches.

… [Jaws] sparked a global fascination with all things sharks… However, there was a serious downside to the film, which led to a global fear of sharks, and sadly, many large sharks were hunted, especially great whites, because of it.

Peter Benchley, the author of Jaws, regretted the negative attitudes his novel and the film unleashed.

“During the last decade of his career, Benchley wrote non-fiction works about the sea and about sharks, advocating their conservation. Among these was his book entitled Shark Trouble, which illustrated how hype and news sensationalism can interfere with the public’s understanding of marine ecosystems and potentially cause negative consequences as humans interact with it. This work, which had editions in 2001 and 2003, was written to help a post-Jaws public to more fully understand “the sea in all its beauty, mystery and power”. It details the ways in which man seems to have become more of an aggressor in his relationship with sharks, acting from ignorance and greed, as several of the species become threatened increasingly by overfishing.”

“Benchley was a member of the National Council of Environmental Defense and a spokesman for its Oceans Program: “[T]he shark in an updated Jaws could not be the villain; it would have to be written as the victim; for, worldwide, sharks are much more the oppressed than the oppressors.”

“He was also one of the founding board members of the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI).”

– Wikipedia, Peter Benchley

Sharks come in all sizes and shapes, inhabiting every ocean. They are a keystone species and, as a predator, play a key role in ensuring a healthy saltwater ecosystem.

Worldwide, shark populations are declining due to the demand for fins to prepare shark fin soup. These creatures, often captured alive, suffer a gruesome death – the crews of the fishing boats, too often operating illegally, hack off the fins and throw the sharks back into the water where they die a slow and painful death. The creatures, unable to swim, cannot breathe. Sharkwater, a 2005 documentary produced and directed by the late Rob Stewart, a Canadian conservationist, spotlighted this cruel fishery depleting shark populations. Stewart died in 2017 while filming a sequel, Sharkwater Extinction, which was released in 2018.

Too many shark species are heavily hunted. American Oceans, a marine conservation group and advocate for sharks, details the 100 million annual death toll on its website.

“An estimated 100 million sharks are killed per year throughout the world, a startlingly high number and one that is greater than the recovery rate of these populations.”

“More specifically, an estimated 6.4% to 7.9% of all shark species in the world are killed each year. This figure, converted into hours, amounts to 11,416 sharks killed worldwide every hour.
In total, the global shark population has reportedly decreased more than 70% in the last 50 years, a further troubling trend.”

These statistics are mind boggling. However, sharks have allies and species such as the great white have heroic and dedicated defenders doing their best to stem the tide. In fact, not only are great whites a protected species in the U.S. and Canada, but their numbers are increasing on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

The West Coast is known as the “great white highway,” and the Farallon Islands, 30 miles off of San Francisco, are a mecca for these sharks, which arrive annually to feast on the abundant seal populations. The islands are managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, in conjunction with marine-based Point Blue Conservation. Off-limits to tourists, the islands are the subject of long-term research in regards to the prey/predator relationship between sharks and seals. Swimming and surfing in these waters is hazardous to your health.

‘It is distressing that incidents where sharks bite people are termed ‘shark attacks.’ Most of these incidents occur when sharks perceive surfers, kayakers, and surf-ski enthusiasts wearing dark wetsuits to be seals, as well as their devices.’

West Coast great whites are being tagged with monitoring devices to track their movements. This is being done on the East Coast by Canadian and American researchers. Due to American legislation protecting marine mammals from commercial seal hunting, populations of grey and common seals are increasing and heading south from Maine to reclaim beaches. This has led to increased great white sightings in states such as Massachusetts, which has also experienced an increase in shark-human encounters. The great whites are following the seals.

We are not on the sharks’ menu. It is distressing that incidents where sharks bite people are termed “shark attacks.” Most of these incidents occur when sharks perceive surfers, kayakers, and surf-ski enthusiasts wearing dark wetsuits to be seals, as well as their devices. Sharks use their teeth to investigate objects. Should they bite a person,  it usually takes just one for them to realize what we are and move on.

Great white populations are increasing in Canadian Atlantic waters, and researchers have discovered that many juveniles, born in warmer southern waters, spend time in Canada. These powerful fish crisscross back and forth between the two countries. Nova Scotia’s Sable Island is home to over 300,000 grey seals – an excellent food source for large sharks.

These conservation efforts illustrate how we can protect sharks, and nations such as South Africa are on board – great whites are protected in their jurisdiction, as are other species. Several South Pacific nations have established extensive protected marine reserves to prevent fishing for sharks and other fish species. They also help endangered sea turtles, dolphins, and whales. These reserves protect the entire web of life, permitting fish and sea mammal populations to recover and live natural lives.

Beach off Sierra Leone polluted with discarded nets and assorted plastic waste – Image: JB – Pexels

However, they do not prevent the increasing amounts of plastic washing up on beaches and forming the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

“Researchers from the Ocean Cleanup project claimed that the patch covers 1.6 million square kilometres (620,000 square miles), consisting of 45,000–129,000 metric tons (50,000–142,000 short tons) of plastic as of 2018, later growing to twice the size of Texas. By the end of 2024, the Ocean Cleanup had removed more than one million pounds of trash from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or 0.5% of the total accumulated trash. While microplastics dominate the area by count, 92% of the mass of the patch consists of larger objects. Some of the plastic is over 50 years old, and includes items (and fragments of items) such as ‘plastic lighters, toothbrushes, water bottles, pens, baby bottles, cell phones, plastic bags, and nurdles’.”

“Research indicates that the patch is rapidly accumulating. The patch is believed to have increased “10-fold each decade” since 1945. The gyre contains approximately six pounds of plastic for every pound of plankton. A similar patch of floating plastic debris is found in the Atlantic Ocean, called the North Atlantic garbage patch.”

– Wikipedia, Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Many fish consume plastic, as do seabirds. Whales have washed up on shore with stomachs full of plastic. Turtles and whales become entangled in plastic and drown.

Then you have ghost nets:

“Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded in the ocean, lakes, and rivers. These nets, often nearly invisible in the dim light, can be left tangled on a rocky reef or drifting in the open sea. They can entangle fish, dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, dugongs, seabirds, crabs, and other creatures, including the occasional human diver. Acting as designed, the nets restrict movement, causing starvation, laceration, infection, and suffocation in those that need to return to the surface to breathe. It’s estimated that around 48 million tons (48,000 kt) of lost fishing gear is generated each year, not including those that were abandoned or discarded[4], and these may linger in the oceans for a considerable time before breaking up.”

– Wikipedia, Ghost nets

The endangered northern right whales, with fewer than 400 individuals, have lost many individuals to these devices. Conservation groups, with support from the American and Canadian Coast Guards, rescue many of these animals. Humpbacks and other whales perish due to these nets. Legislation is making a difference, and some fishers are doing their part, but the nets continue to take lives.

It’s bad enough that legal and illegal fishing operations too often utilize large drift nets that kill tremendous numbers of non-commercial species, but the worst offenders also engage in bottom trawling, which decimates vast stretches of the sea bottom. The Marine Stewardship Council, in a page entitled Demersal or bottom trawls, makes for sombre reading. A new threat, similar to bottom trawling, is deep-sea mining and several governments, including the United States, are considering approving operations in their territorial waters. This would decimate fish populations and turn areas teeming with life into lifeless deserts that take decades to recover, if ever.

Several years ago, it was estimated that 50 percent of the planet’s commercial fishing stocks were on the brink of collapse. The effects of climate change and pollution exacerbate the problem. Overfishing continues despite serious efforts by concerned nations and the brave actions of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, led by Canadian Paul Watson. Watson and his intrepid band of sailors and wildlife warriors engage in missions in Antarctica, the Arctic, and the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans to protect whales, dolphins, seals, sharks and fish, taking on illegal fishing fleets from China and other nations, and Japanese whaling vessels operating in Antarctic waters and Australia.

Sir David Attenborough, the renowned filmmaker and conservationist, released Ocean, the “greatest message he’s told”, last May. It is a plea to protect our oceans and the biodiversity within them.

We know more about the moon than we do about our oceans, which cover 71 percent of the Earth. There are species still awaiting discovery and our knowledge about the mechanics of the oceanic system is minimal. Tragically, some of the answers we seek are being lost via our relentless exploitation of these ecosystems and the impacts of climate change. It’s not too late to protect the oceans and the creatures inhabiting this immensity at all depths. I hereby give the floor to Attenborough and his colleagues:

Feature image: Magda Ehlers – Pexels

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Irwin Rapoport is a freelance journalist with a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Concordia University.