We’ re into silly season for shark viewing, but Paul Cox has happened on an elasmobranch gameshow which might just be … okay
Golden years
Contemporary drawing of Le Prince de Conty
A total shark show
We’ re into silly season for shark viewing, but Paul Cox has happened on an elasmobranch gameshow which might just be … okay
Golden years
An 80-year-old novelist and her husband are among several people facing trial in France over the sale of gold bars taken from an 18th Century shipwreck. Eleonor Courter and her husband, Philip, 82, have been accused of helping to sell the bullion online for a French diver who allegedly stole it decades ago. They have denied knowledge of any wrongdoing, but French prosecutors requested the case go to court. Le Prince de Conty, a French ship trading with Asia, sank off the coast of Brittany during a stormy night in the winter of 1746. Its wreck was discovered in 1974, lying at 15m near the island of Belle-Île-en-Mer. The wreck was looted a year later, after a gold ingot was discovered during a site survey.
horrific and painful injuries over months and sometimes years, which is a huge welfare issue. Unless rescued, their entanglement will likely to lead to prolonged suffering before a premature death.” Scan the QR code to access the petition.
Something is definitely afoot. It’ s July and, as has been the case for as long as I can remember, there’ s suddenly loads of stuff on TV about sharks. Yes, sharks, those elusive creatures that disappear almost entirely from the collective consciousness between August and June and then foist themselves onto our screens – large and small – for 31 glorious days.
But something’ s different this year. There’ s change in the air. Because not all of it is awful. Don’ t get me wrong, obviously some of it is mindnumbingly bad. But I don’ t want to focus on that. I don’ t want to go shine a light on the factually inaccurate, the ridiculously sensationalist, or even the morally questionable. You know who you are, and you need to do better. I would, however, like to pick out a bright spot, the beacon of hope that is Netflix’ s‘ All the Sharks’.
This isn’ t an advert and I’ m not being paid to say this. And I’ m also not saying it’ s perfect. But it does seem that this programme is genuinely pretty … okay. If you’ ve not seen it, four teams go diving and get points for getting recognisable photos of sharks of different species. The‘ rarer’ the shark( or rays because“ flat sharks are sharks too”), the more points. So, when our teams start in the Maldives, common as muck tiger sharks gets you three points while a thresher nets you 70. It’ s a pretty simple formula, but it’ s carried off with a good combo of fun and a serious intent to educate the viewer, gently.
It’ s the tone that’ s strikingly different based on the first episode. People go diving with sharks, people see sharks, they take photos, and they move on. There isn’ t an attempt to making the teams appear heroic and neither do they try to persuade us that sharks are‘ safe’ by hugging them( but this programme also exists!).
I’ m only one in. There’ s time for it all to go wrong yet but it doesn’ t feel like that’ s where we’ re going. It feels like the producers have tried to make a programme where, for those of us that love sharks, it’ s possible to watch without worrying about having to craft an angry Facebook post halfway through. Let’ s hope so. And let’ s hope that other companies notice that there is another way to put sharks on TV and get viewers. www. sharktrust. org estuary. Mr Davidson said:“ A dorsal fin slowly broke the surface, revealing that familiar profile that looked like a shark. I quickly took out my phone and started to video this slow-moving fish as it meandered... getting mobbed by a few gulls. I couldn’ t believe what I was watching!” Dr Patrick Collins, a marine biologist at Queen’ s University, said:“ It’ s not something you see every day, but it’ s not something super unusual either.”
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