News

For many divers, Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week may be little more than a guilty pleasure. 

Although the week features some scientifically significant programming, it seems that much of this is masked by shows like “Day of the Shark” and “Ultimate Air Jaws.” This year, however, the marine conservation groups Oceana and PEW have partnered with Discovery, hoping to use the through the roof ratings to promote shark conservation awareness. 

“This year, Discovery’s Shark Week is especially important as we are finding more and more opportunities to win protections for sharks all over the world,” said Andrew F. Sharpless, CEO of Oceana. “With Discovery’s help, we can put in place more protections for sharks around the world.” 

Oceana and Discovery have planed a series of public service announcements during the week, urging viewers to look past their violent television inclination and urge local governments to protect plummeting shark populations. The PSAs will also encourage shark lovers to visit the Save the Sharks website to learn more about Oceana’s shark conservation campaign. 

"Shark Week, now in its 24th year, has become a perennial favorite among viewers who are fascinated by this powerful and often misunderstood creature," said Clark Bunting, President and General Manager of Discovery Channel. "With shark populations in serious decline, Discovery Channel is proud to once again partner this year with Oceana on a PSA campaign as well as joining them in encouraging people to take action and help protect the most vulnerable shark species on the brink of extinction."

It may have been the innate violent-loving, schaudenfreudestic nature of American television viewers that resulted in in the immense success of Shark Week in recent years –over 30 million viewers in 2010- but Oceana understands the value of the education opportunity non-the-less. In fact, Ocean has won two of its largest battles in the last year- Chile joined a growing list to ban shark finning and congress passed the U.S. Shark Conservation Act into law.