How a real-life Amity Island is learning that living with Great White sharks is not a death sentence
The images of panicked beachgoers running out of the sea looking terrified is one of the most famous from Steven Spielberg’s Jaws.
When a beach clears due to a shark sighting it is often described by the media as “being like a scene from Jaws”, but shark sightings and the presence of great white sharks aren’t keeping residents and tourists from heading to the beaches on Cape Cod.
The results of a new survey of 2,000 people have suggested that living with great whites needn’t be a death sentence for local residents, tourists or commercial fishers, and that Cape Cod can have both great white sharks and summer dollars.
The fictional resort town of Amity Island In Jaws – actually filmed nearby in Martha’s Vineyard – struggled, but then they had a killer shark that was eating the locals and holidaymakers.
Not that Cape Cod didn’t have a recent death by great white, it happened four years ago and up until that point it had been 80 years since there had been a shark fatality in the area.
The Jaws comparisons were of course legion, with most of the feeding frenzy taking place in the media. But locals were concerned for their livelihoods – just like Mrs Taft in Jaws asking, “are you going to close the beaches?” – for their safety from the sharks, and concerns over the growing seal populations, their impact on local fishing and attracting great white sharks.
Those concerns still very much exist but to quote Mayor Vaughn, the beaches are open and people are having a wonderful time. They are, but they are just being more cautious with it.
Their recent survey covered everything from beliefs and attitudes about seals and sharks, thoughts on lethal and non-lethal management and how the seals and sharks had changed how they use the beach.
It was found that 66% of residents and 77% of tourists checked and obeyed signage and warning systems when it came to sharks, with 63% of residents and 55% of tourists avoiding areas where sharks have been reported and 54% of residents and 74% of tourists following lifeguard instructions.
It was refreshing to note that the survey found that those responding in all three groups felt they had some control over whether they not they encounter sharks, showing that shark and shark safety education was making a real difference in the lives of people – and sharks.
Perhaps the tide is beginning to turn regarding our attitude to sharks and sharing the same waters, now more than ever the words of President Kennedy have never rung truer – even if he wasn’t talking about sharks and man – our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet.
Words by Dean Newman
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