Sharks have been living on Earth for hundreds of millions of years. These predators of the sea have captured our imaginations. They’ve been feared and admired by many. They're so popular they have their own week of television dedicated to them on the Discovery Channel. They'll also have their own night dedicated to them this Friday here at MSU.
The University Activities Board at MSU and the MSU Shark Club decided to team up to host an event called Shark Night — a one-night event based off of the Discovery Channel's Shark Week. Together they’re trying to bring awareness to MSU students about the importance of shark conservation.
“Shark Week, for Discovery Channel, is super popular and we wanted to bring an event that’s similar,” professional writing junior and MSU UAB Event Director Caroline Poole said. “So we met up with the MSU Shark Club and talked to them about it.”
Shark Night will take place Nov. 20 at IM Sports-Circle. Students will be given the opportunity to come out and learn about sharks while playing games and they’ll be able to swim in the pool as well.
They’ll also be showing a documentary called Shark Water, which is about shark-finning and the killing of sharks.
“We only hear about the negativity — sharks attacks and death that's associated with sharks," MSU Shark Club President and zoology sophomore Tasha Christensen said. “What most people don’t realize is that people kill more sharks than sharks kill humans.”
The fear instilled in humans of being eaten alive by these carnivorous creatures could be blamed on the popular movie Jaws, which was released 40 years ago. The reality is that death by shark attack in the United States is not very common.
According to National Geographic, the United States averages just 19 shark attacks each year and only one shark-attack fatality every two years. To compare, lightning strikes in the U.S. coastal states alone kill more than 37 people each year.
However, according to One Green Planet , approximately 100 million sharks are killed each year by humans. Sharks are often killed for their fins — 2.2 pounds of shark fins are valued around $650. Approximately 73 million of the 100 million yearly sharks deaths are related to the shark fin trade.
Christensen said that sharks are important in stabilizing and keeping a balanced ecosystem. They keep species’ populations at bay and keep them from getting out of control.
“Get rid of the niche surrounding the whole Jaws movie and everything that sharks are super scary and that they’re man-eaters,” journalism sophomore Courtney Galliers said. “We’re killing a bunch of them and they need our help.”
Christensen understands it may be tough for MSU students to imagine how they can help save the sharks with the closest wild sharks being hundreds of miles away from East Lansing. However she said that being educated and knowing that it’s going on is important.
“Media has given sharks this negative image and we want to try to change that. We want to shed some light on these animals,” Christensen said. “If people took the time to learn about them, they would appreciate them more and there would be more action to protect them."
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Poole said throughout the week MSU students should keep on the lookout for someone dressed up in a shark costume walking around campus. They’ll also be giving out shark conservation information at The Rock on Farm Lane later this week in preparation for the event on Friday night.
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