Blue water, white lies--Sharks:evil or misunderstood?

摘要

The AG Society's 2008 Lifetime of Conservation awardee Valerie Taylor separates truth from tall tales. I'M OFTEN REFERRED to as a scientist. I'm not. I write from 50 years of experience. The oceans have been very good to my husband Ron and me. They'vegiven us a life of excitement and adventure. The marine world is my teacher, my workplace and my love, yet Ron and I have but dabbled in what it offers -- unknown depths, and their mysterious creatures, covering 72 per cent of our planet's surface. Ronand I learnt very early that footage of sharks would sell more readily than that of any other marine animal. In the 1950s Movietone News (an international cinema-shown newsreel covering the years 1929-79) bought Ron's 16 mm footage, blew it up to 35 mm and showed it in theatres around the world. Then came television (in 1956 in Australia) and the public's lust for any images of sharks had us searching offshore waters for these "dangerous" predators. For us, filming sharks in their natural environment became a way of life.