Shark Attack

[Scylax]

D. Telegraph today reports that a girl has been killed by a shark whilst she was swimming in the sea off La Reunion (Indian Ocean).
In response, local fishermen have been summoned to kill c. 20 sharks. Why?
The sea is the shark's domain, not silly girls who swim in shark-infested waters.
Long live the sharks, I say. What do you think?

[sp1814]

I believe this falls under the heading of 'Something must be done'.

A cull will temporarily reduce shark numbers in the locality, but it's not likely to have any long term effect. It's not like other sharks are going to 'get the message'.

[sp1814]

By the way Bazile - in that scene, if you look carefully, you can see the shark's rubber teeth bend as it 'eats' Robert Shaw.

Sorry to ruin it for you.

[pixie373]

I think it's a little unfair to call the girl "silly." But why kill 20 sharks? Is that to teach the others not to do it again?

[flump1]

I read this yesterday and in the article it mentioned that the girl who died was swimming in a ' no swimming ' zone.
It is awful for her family, her sister, younger, witnessed the whole thing.
I agree with the folk that say let the sharks be, it is cruel inflicting a cull.

[Canary42]

//// That's reminiscent of Nazi practices. ////

What ? Come on, get real.

[Bazile]

//By the way Bazile - in that scene, if you look carefully, you can see the shark's rubber teeth bend as it 'eats' Robert Shaw.

Sorry to ruin it for you. //

Sp1814 - when i watched it for the first time at the cinema ( it did not have, subsequently , the same dramatic sense of scariness on the tv ) i can assure you , me , my mates and all the others in the cinema audience did not have time to observe the rubbery nature of it's incisors . Reality and fiction/ make beleive , sort of merged into one , for 124 minutes . :-)

[Bazile]

scylax - sorry to go off the central topic

However , isn't the following box office ,stats from the film jaws , truly amazing for a film about a fish ? -

Jaws opened with a $7 million weekend[112] and recouped its production costs in two weeks.[ In just 78 days it overtook The Godfather as the highest-grossing film at the North American box office - sailing past that picture's earnings of $86 million, to become the first film to reach $100 million in rentals. Its initial release ultimately brought in $123.1 million in rentals Theatrical re-releases in 1976 and 1979 brought its total rentals to $133.4 million.

The picture entered overseas release in December 1975, and its international business mirrored its domestic performance. It broke records in Singapore New Zealand, Japan, Spain, and Mexico. By 1977, Jaws was the highest-grossing international release with worldwide rentals of $193 million, equating to about $400 million of gross revenue; it supplanted The Godfather, which had earned $145 million in rentals.

Jaws was the highest-grossing film of all time until Star Wars, which debuted two years later. Star Wars surpassed Jaws for the U.S. record six months after its release and set a new global record in 1978. As of June 2013, it is the 127th-highest-grossing film of all time with $470.7 million worldwide, and the 66th highest domestically with a total North American gross of $260 million. Adjusted for inflation, Jaws has earned almost $2 billion worldwide at 2011 prices, and is the second most successful franchise film after Star Wars In North America, it is the seventh-highest-grossing movie of all time, with a total of $1.017 billion at current prices, based on an estimated 128,078,800 tickets sold. In the United Kingdom, it is the seventh-highest-grossing film to be released since 1975, earning the equivalent of over £70 million in 2009/10 currency,

With admissions estimated at 16.2 million. Jaws has also sold 13 million tickets in Brazil, the second-highest attendance ever in the country behind Titanic.
On television, the American Broadcasting Company aired it for the first time right after its 1979 re-release. The first U.S. broadcast attracted 57 percent of the total audience, the second highest televised movie share at the time behind Gone with the Wind. In the United Kingdom, 23 million people watched its inaugural broadcast in October 1981, the second biggest TV audience ever for a feature film behind Live and Let Die.

[Old_Geezer]

It's a normal human reaction to want vengence, but one should realise that more sharks are killed by humans per year than humans killed by sharks. It's not a rational response.

[naomi24]

This is wrong. Human beings are not only arrogant - they're stupid!

[jomifl]

As soon as the dead sharks spread the word then the rest of the shark population will be filled with remorse and become vegan. If you think that sounds silly....