Shark Attacks

Rodney Fox's Conservation on Shark Attacks


Introduction:

Humanity has despised sharks for many years, and as we live in this culture, there seems to be many more years to come. So as we ask ourselves, why are we so negatively impacted by sharks? Because it is human nature for us to see something that we have never seen before, therefore we are frightened by it. In 1776 people thought of the Great White Shark as a monster. They believed that sharks could do just about anything they wanted, there were reports of whole humans found in the sharks. There were many absurd remarks about these creatures, and I believe that is what has been driving humanity away from these beautiful creatures. Enough about the history, we almost forgot about, where are shark attacks more frequent? What species of sharks are more aggresive, what is our public perception of sharks? How did Rodeny Fox help the situation? And much more.

(Medieval reprentation of Sharks)

Sharks:

Most shark attacks occur in nearshore waters, typically inshore of a sandbar or between where sharks feed and can become trapped at low tide. Areas with steep dropoffs are also likely attack sites. Sharks migrate there because their natural food items also migrate to these areas. An important fact that we some times look upon is, not all sharks are man eating sharks. There are sharks that are less aggressive than others. Great White Sharks, Tider Sharks, Bull Sharks, Oceanic White Tips, Gray Sharks, and Makos, those are supposively the most aggressive sharks. The reason for these sharks to attack humans is because, usually the mistake us for marine animals. As you can see below, you can see how close the resemblances are to a human surfer to a sea turtle or a sea lion. And they are very close.

Conservation:

In the media, sharks have targeted and portrayed as vicious killers. Movies such as JAWS, have made such a epic impact in todays cultures ; that no matter how many documentaries we watch on how sharks are not killing machines, we still have that mentality of sharks being aggressive and vital. Shark attacks are disproportionatley reaction, and sharks are look down upon by the unrealistic image we have in our minds. According to the International Shark Attck Files (ISAF) it is 15 times more likely to be struck by lightning than to be bit by a shark, and 89 times more likely to die of being struck by lightning than dying from a shark bite. These remarks demonsrtate that the public perception of sharks is a complete chaos, because of the lack of
education and a horrific image fed to the public because of the film making. Luckily, we have a tremendous leader who goes by the name of Rodney Fox. Rodney Fox suffered a near fatal accident about 50 years ago, and since then he has done everything he can do, to change our minstate of sharks. He has presented a numerous amounts of documentaries about sharks and how the are not harmful to humans. Rodney has hosted expeditions for over 100 major feature and documentary films with film makers and shark researchers from 16 different countries. Disney, Universal Studios, IMAX, Cousteau Society and National Geographic have helped and filmed the great studies from his cage.








Biography:

Rodney Winston Fox was born in South Australia on November 9 1940. He is married to Kay, and they have three children, Andrew, Lenore and Darren and seven granchildren. One of his grandchildren was featured on What A Life International and he mentioned his granderfather's job. Rodney Fox was attacked by a great white shark and badly bitten around the chest and arm in December 1963. His story of the attack and escape has been published many times. He is known as the miracle survivor of one of the world's worst non-fatal shark attacks. In the attack Rodney's abdomen was full exposed and all ribs broken on his left hand side. His diaphragm was bruised, lung ripped open, his scapula was pierced, spleen uncovered, the main artery from his heart was exposed and he was minues away from his veins falling due to loss of blood. Tendons, finger, thumb,in his right hand were torn up. And still today he has a part of the great white tooth embedded in his wrist. It took 462 stitches to sew him back together. Rodney Fox since the attack has tried very hard to prove shraks innocents. Rodney and Andrew Fox along with shark researcher Dr. Rachel Robbins, founded the Fox Shark Research Foundation (FSRF) which is concentrated to the study and conservation of the great white shark.

Impact on the World/Humanity:

In the journal article, Rodney Fox was talking about the closer encounter to death, and he so appreciative of life. Rodney Fox was describing the moments he had while he was being attacked. Also if it wasn't for a near by boat that came by and carried him out of the water, Rodney Fox would not be here today.

Rodney Fox is an amazing leader, researcher, and freind to the sharks. Rodney could of taken his experience and could of degrated the sharks. But no, he took his experience and learned how beautiful these creatures really are. Rodney Fox showed us that sharks are not harmful, we believe they are because the movies say they are. Fox has gone out of his way, to invent inventions that would have him literally swim with the sharks. For example, Rodney Fox went on to design the very first underwater observation cage so that he could dive with sharks. Fox has shown us that, without sharks our whole enviroment would be a disaster. If sharks went extinct, then they would not be able to remove unhealthy and weak fishes from the large schools of prey. Leaving much stronger and healthier populations that are able to withstand other pressures. Also, sharks eat on fish that feed off the reef. If there were no sharks, the smaller fish would eat and eventually kill the reef. So sharks are very important to our enviroment. Rodney Fox has been saving sharks for many years now, he has presented documentaries, he created his own foundation, and he has saved very many sharks. Hopefully, people will listen and understand that sharks are important to us and the world. And I believe that he has done a marvelous job with that.

References:

• (http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/)
• (http://www.sharkattacks.com/)
• (http://www.aquariumdomain.com/)
• (news.nationalgeograpic.com)
• (http://www.nativeplanet.org/)
• (http://www.adoptashark.com/)