By James FitzPatrick
Contributing Writer
Millions of Americans will be glued to the Discovery Channel starting 8 p.m. Sunday, July 23, for the launch of the 35th season of “Shark Week.”
The summer ratings blockbuster reels in viewers with heart-stopping video and dramatic stories. Expect to see amazing images of sharks flying through the air and great white shark feeding frenzies, guaranteed to get the adrenaline flowing.
“Shark Week” 2023 will showcase nearly 20 hours of new programming, beginning with an action-filled opener Sunday. “Belly of the Beast: Feeding Frenzy.” It features great white sharks in action, with video captured from inside a whale carcass – all in search of the largest great white shark ever found in South Africa.
Other installments include “Serial Killer: Red Sea Feeding Frenzy,” and “Great White Fight Club.”
Episode titles lean toward the sensational, referring to a “harrowing shark encounter” in North Carolina, “an unknown, monstrous predator” in the Bermuda Triangle, or “cocaine-fueled sharks,” affected by drugs cast overboard by smugglers.
The themes and titles are dramatic, feeding into the criticism that “Shark Week” is less about science and more about sensational entertainment.
Smithsonian Magazine analyzed 202 episodes for a story headlined, “Discovery Channel’s ‘Shark Week’ Is Packed With Misinformation and Junk Science.” Although it has noted improvements over years, “our findings show that many ‘Shark Week’ depictions of sharks are still problematic, pseudoscientific, nonsensical or unhelpful.”
What is certain is that the series reels in viewers by the millions. An estimated 28 million tuned in last summer.
The 2022 installment also featured its first ever celebrity host, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. This year Jason Momoa will do the honors. The Hawaiian actor, conservationist, star of “Aquaman,” according to People magazine, has been trying to land the shark emcee assignment for years.
Discovery needs no help from Hollywood drumming up shark enthusiasm. Sharks draw a crowd. A good example is Adventure Aquarium in Camden which is offering Shark Summer, a lineup of shark programming underway now through Aug. 20.
With the largest collection of sharks in the Northeast, the attraction includes a shark bridge, a Shark Tunnel where guests are surrounded by sharks, opportunities to learn about shark trivia and the seven shark species at the aquarium, and even a place where you can touch them.
“See sharks swimming below your feet as you brave the 81-foot suspended Shark Bridge, be surrounded by these amazing predators inside a Shark Tunnel and even touch some of the most exotic sharks in the world,” the aquarium says on its website. “It’s a shark lover’s dream!”
SeaWorld, which operates in Florida, Texas and California, is creating a week-long celebration of the sharks in its parks with the Ultimate Shark Experience ticket, a special program that allows participants to touch and feed sharks and learn about conservation.
“Approximately 100 million sharks are killed by people every year in the wild, mainly for their fins (shark fin soup), making conservation essential to preserve the species,” SeaWorld said in its announcement for the program.
Sharks are about more than entertainment.
Viewers along the Atlantic Coast will likely be taking a keen interest in “Shark Week “ this year given a recent uptick in violent interactions between sharks and humans.
On May a 15-year-old surfer needed stitches when she was bitten in the foot and leg while surfing in Stone Harbor off of 109th Street Beach.
During the Fourth of July holiday, five shark bites of swimmers enjoying Long Island’s South Shore prompted New York State to distribute surveillance drones to help beach patrols monitor shark activity. Up to 60 are being made available, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Hochul said “state personnel will continue to do all we can to keep beachgoers safe. We have the tools and strategies to monitor marine wildlife and protect the health and safety of New Yorkers. These new drones will allow us to scan the water and help local governments across Long Island and New York City keep local beaches safe for all.”
Steve Nagiewicz, adjunct professor of marine science at Stockton University, has been scuba diving for 43 years and has more than 4,500 dives. He is also the former head of the Shark Research Institute, an organization that works with the United Nations to protect sharks.
He said warmer water has a lot to do with the uptick in shark activity. He said sandbar sharks are the likely culprit.
“The equation is warm water close to the beach, people wanting to get into the water, sharks chasing the food,” he said. “Quite often they can’t tell the difference until they bite.”
The Brick Township resident said it’s a natural thing for people to be curious about sharks.
“People are afraid of sharks. They want to see the kind of damage they can do. Is it education? Part of it is. All of those shows, National Geographic certainly, and the Discovery Channel that hosts “Shark Week,” they are there to tell you about the sharks. They are doing it in a way that entertains and scares you because that is what people want to watch on TV.”
He added that the educational value is improving.
“I ve noticed that the content on these shows is more and more about educating people about sharks, not making them afraid of them. So that is a good thing.”
He speculated that “Shark Week” is probably good for business at the aquariums.
He said it’s important to remember that sharks are an essential part of the ocean food web. Nature would be out of balance without them.
“They don’t want to bite you, but be careful when you go in the water. “They’re not looking to go after you at all; they’re just looking to survive.”
Shark Week Schedule
Sunday, July 23
Belly of the Beast: Feeding Frenzy, at 8 p.m.
Jaws vs. The Meg, 9 p.m.
Serial Killer: Red Sea Feeding Frenzy, 10 p.m.
“Shark Week”: Off the Hook, 11 p.m.
Monday, July 24
Great White Fight Club, 8 p.m.
Monsters of Bermuda Triangle, 9 p.m.
Alien Sharks: Strange New Worlds, 10 p.m.
Tuesday, July 25
Mako Mania: Battle for California, 8 p.m.
Raiders of the Lost Shark, 9 p.m.
Monster Hammerheads: Killer Instinct, 10 p.m.
Wednesday, July 26
Air Jaws: Final Frontier, 8 p.m.
Florida Shark: Blood in the Water, 9 p.m.
Cocaine Sharks, 10 p.m.
Thursday, July 27
Jaws in the Shallows, 8 p.m.
Monster Mako: Fresh Blood, 9 p.m.
Shark vs Snake: Battle of the Bites, 10 p.m.
Friday, July 28
Tropic Jaws, 8 p.m.
Deadly Sharks of Paradise, 9 p.m.
Haunting at Shark Tower, 10 p.m.
Saturday, July 29
Dawn of the Monster Mako, 8 p.m.
Mega Sharks of Dangerous Reef, 9 p.m.
If you are looking for a “Shark Week” alternative check out “SharkFest,”Nat Geo’s shark programming marathon which first appeared in 2017 and regularly attracts viewership in the millions. SharkFest is already underway and runs through August, reaching viewers across the Disney family of channels: National Geographic, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN2.
It began July 2 and offers four weeks of shark programming with more than 22 hours of original content and 50 hours of enhanced material “without the distractions of celebrities.”
