| People often ask me why I’m so passionate about sharks, and when that fascination first took hold. The answer reaches back far earlier than the famous film Jaws — long before the mechanical shark, the music, or the fear it stirred in audiences. My connection with sharks began in childhood, growing up along the coast of Australia, where the ocean was both a playground and a classroom. I lived in Seaford, Victoria, a place where fishermen gathered on the pier, where fish guts were tossed into the water without a second thought, and where sharks were simply part of the scenery. Lifeguards’ whistles, sightings off the pier, and my own underwater encounters formed the backdrop of my early years. Sharks were not monsters; they were living puzzles — powerful, ancient, and endlessly intriguing. By the time I was eleven, I had already read Peter Benchley’s Jaws. The book fascinated me, not because it was frightening, but because it spoke of a creature I already knew, a creature woven into my daily life. So when I eventually watched the film in 1977, it wasn’t in a cinema, but aboard a ship travelling from Melbourne to Southampton — a six-week journey across the open sea. Even then, the film didn’t spark my interest; it only deepened it. With age came understanding. I learned that Benchley himself regretted writing Jaws the way he did, believing he had turned the great white shark into a villain and fuelled an unnecessary fear that still lingers today. He later dedicated his life to marine conservation, admitting he would have written the story very differently had he known the truth about these extraordinary animals. And he was right to regret it. If there is a villain in the story of our oceans, it isn’t the shark — it’s civilisation. Human activity has caused more harm to marine life than any predator ever has: overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction, climate change, and centuries of myth-making that paint sharks as mindless killers. Meanwhile, these creatures, which survived millions of years of natural evolution, now face threats they were never built to withstand. This series is my way of exploring all of that — the myths, the truths, the personal memories, and the realities that sharks face in a changing world. It’s a journey from childhood encounters to adult understanding; from fear-filled fiction to the real story of one of the most misunderstood groups of animals on Earth. Welcome to the beginning. |
| This is a Saturday only series |
Earthly Comforts 
Thank you for sharing this fascinating post Rory.
LikeLiked by 1 person
An interesting story, Rory. It’s sad what creatures have to endure because of humankind.
LikeLiked by 1 person