David over at Southern Fried Science emailed me today about the controversy surrounding The Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. What controversy? you may be wondering… Well it happens there are a number of folks concerned that ‘sensationalistic‘ portrayals of sharks in shows like ‘Deadly Waters‘ and ‘Sharkbite Summer‘ are more successful at fostering fear than promoting conservation.

Now personally, I don’t have a problem with Shark Week. I like that Discovery spends time highlighting the marine realm and have a hunch it serves to encourage many youngsters to get interested in oceans by fostering curiosity about what’s going on beneath the surface. The opposing argument has some merit, but the associated petition and blog are a little… well, exaggerated:

Discovery Channel has so effectively convinced their millions of viewers that sharks deserve to be hated, that many people think that sharks should be hunted to extinction.

In my experience, both children and adults regularly bring up Shark Week when they find out I work in marine biology because sharks are ‘so cool!’ (If only sea cucumbers got that kind of attention.) So it’s hard to be outraged at an organization that funds a good deal of conservation while promoting public appreciation of science. And admittedly, along with many good friends at NOAA’s Silver Spring headquarters, I still get a kick out of the 446-foot-long inflatable shark swimming through The Discovery Channel building for the week every year. In short, I choose my battles carefully, and when it comes to marine conservation, I’ve got bigger fish to fry.

David will be interviewing The Discovery Channel’s Senior Science Editor Paul Gasek on the matter and is calling for questions from readers. The details to contribute are here…