Sharkwater
Sharkwater is an interactive documentary that was directed by Rob Stewart. Rob Stewart’s presence is prominent throughout the film. There are scenes of him swimming with sharks, interviewing people, and he narrates the entire film. He travels to Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands to show us that sharks aren’t the deadly creatures we make them out to be, yet over one hundred billion are killed annually. The thesis of this film is clear when Stewart says how, “the one animal we fear the most is the one we cannot live without.” Our understanding of sharks is mediatized and completely inaccurate. Not even twenty minutes into the film and you can see sharks for the beautiful creatures they really are, so graceful and shy. This …show more content…
Ritter claims that, “killing sharks is the biggest ecological time bomb,” and he’s absolutely correct. If we kill them all, we destroy all food chains of our entire ecosystem. The majority of our oxygen comes from the ocean and the film goes on the explain how. Phytoplankton are tiny aquatic plants that consume carbon dioxide and convert it to oxygen. They produce seventy-five percent of the oxygen we breathe on land. Without sharks, the plankton eater population would grow out of control consuming the plankton we depend on for survival. According to sharksavers.org, “Sharks groom many populations of marine life to the right size so that those prey species don’t cause harm to the ecosystem by becoming too populous.” Several scientific studies validate that the reduction of sharks would result in loss of economically important shellfish and fish, such as tuna, “that maintain the health of coral reefs.” (sharksavers) The ocean is the life support system of the planet, it regulates climate and feeds many people. If we kill off the sharks we subsequently kill off our main source of oxygen. Dr. Worm explains how predators function as the ecosystem balance, they are fundamental in controlling the function of the ecosystems. By killing sharks we are destroying the controlling agent. Shark populations have decimated all over the world and most shark species are now endangered. Paul Watson compares the slaughter of sharks to slavery, saying how we now have no respect for that culture. Those people were viewed as barbaric and that is how this current culture will be viewed generations from now. We will have knowingly destroyed the shark population. Life on land depends on life in the oceans, saving the sharks would save
Sharkwater is an interactive documentary that was directed by Rob Stewart. Rob Stewart’s presence is prominent throughout the film. There are scenes of him swimming with sharks, interviewing people, and he narrates the entire film. He travels to Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands to show us that sharks aren’t the deadly creatures we make them out to be, yet over one hundred billion are killed annually. The thesis of this film is clear when Stewart says how, “the one animal we fear the most is the one we cannot live without.” Our understanding of sharks is mediatized and completely inaccurate. Not even twenty minutes into the film and you can see sharks for the beautiful creatures they really are, so graceful and shy. This …show more content…
Ritter claims that, “killing sharks is the biggest ecological time bomb,” and he’s absolutely correct. If we kill them all, we destroy all food chains of our entire ecosystem. The majority of our oxygen comes from the ocean and the film goes on the explain how. Phytoplankton are tiny aquatic plants that consume carbon dioxide and convert it to oxygen. They produce seventy-five percent of the oxygen we breathe on land. Without sharks, the plankton eater population would grow out of control consuming the plankton we depend on for survival. According to sharksavers.org, “Sharks groom many populations of marine life to the right size so that those prey species don’t cause harm to the ecosystem by becoming too populous.” Several scientific studies validate that the reduction of sharks would result in loss of economically important shellfish and fish, such as tuna, “that maintain the health of coral reefs.” (sharksavers) The ocean is the life support system of the planet, it regulates climate and feeds many people. If we kill off the sharks we subsequently kill off our main source of oxygen. Dr. Worm explains how predators function as the ecosystem balance, they are fundamental in controlling the function of the ecosystems. By killing sharks we are destroying the controlling agent. Shark populations have decimated all over the world and most shark species are now endangered. Paul Watson compares the slaughter of sharks to slavery, saying how we now have no respect for that culture. Those people were viewed as barbaric and that is how this current culture will be viewed generations from now. We will have knowingly destroyed the shark population. Life on land depends on life in the oceans, saving the sharks would save