‘Shark Eat Shark’ Sneak Peek: How ‘Jaws’ Impacted the Great White Population (VIDEO)
National Geographic‘s SharkFest is nearly back as the annual programming event prepares to kick off on Sunday, July 2. In anticipation of the lineup, which features all-new original programming, we have your exclusive first look at Shark Eat Shark with a clip revealing Jaws’ impact on the Great White population.
On the 48th anniversary of the film’s release (originally hitting theaters June 20, 1975), shark fisherman turned conservationist Bryan McFarlane is getting candid about how the movie’s negative view on sharks impacted the once robust Great White population. “When people used to catch the great whites, this coast was the place to catch them.”
(Credit: Courtesy of Everett Collection)
During the ’70s and ’80s, MacFarlane was one of many who hunted the shark species for sport. “There are people in the world that want to prove their machoness and catch the biggest most fearsome animal in the sea, and that being the Great White, so that was the incentive…” McFarlane says in the clip, above.
He further elaborates on the subject, noting, “If I go back 40 years when I went out to catch a shark, I would see 20 to 30 to 40 Great Whites a day, even before we even put bait in the water. We couldn’t believe it. They were always there, but — the big but — when the Jaws movie came out, that was the turning point. Everyone hated or wanted to kill a Great, and I unfortunately was one of them.”
“You brought it back, hundreds of people would come onto the jetty, you’d hang the shark up and you’d be a hero.” Now, that isn’t the case and McFarlane has since changed his ways, especially since hunting Great Whites has been outlawed. Viewers can see how he feels about his actions now, in the clip above.
As viewers will recall, Jaws centers around the beach community of Amity Island which is terrorized by a killer Great White shark. Directed by Steven Spielberg and filmed in Martha’s Vineyard, the movie starred Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, and Richard Dreyfuss. Together, their characters hunted down the shark with mixed results.
The movie stirred up fear of sharks in many, and McFarlane is one of several conservationists working to rehab the creatures’ image to the public. Don’t miss more of Shark Eat Shark when SharkFest kicks off this July on Nat Geo alongside several other shark-related programs.
Shark Eat Shark, Series Premiere, Sunday, July 2, 9/8c, Nat Geo, Disney+ & Hulu (Wednesday, July 26, 10/9c, Nat Geo WILD)
