Shark Week 2013 Is Intense, From Sharkanado To Attacks

Shark Week is finally here, and we know everyone has been eagerly awaiting the most wonderful time of the year (Summer Edition) for 2013.

This summer, it has felt like shark week every week, with Sharkanado taking over summer entertainment, and the flurry of shark sightings we’ve seen in the news since beaches officially opened and forced us to share the waters with our bitey water-dwelling buddies.

But humans can’t seem to get enough of sharks, whether it’s grilled or on our screens scaring the bejesus out of us. Luckily, we’ve got all of Shark Week to celebrate the glorious sea badass.

Shark fans got a great start to the much anticipated educational programming block this week, and The Guardian explains the big kickoff on Discovery:

“Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, a staple of American cable television since 1987, began on Sunday with an airing of a documentary called Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives, billed as a documentary of the search for a notorious killer great white shark off the South African coast.”

But Shark Week isn’t all fun and games, even if we all love sharks.

You know who else loves sharks? Shark attack survivors. Really!

Discovery carries a Shark Week blog post written by Debbie Salamone, and there is some “bad news” about sharks before the festivities starts, she writes:

“First, the bad news. Scientists verified that about 100 million sharks are killed annually, up from the 73 million that had been documented previously. In contrast, sharks generally attack about 70 people on average each year, resulting in a handful of deaths. So remember those statistics when you’re cringing in your seat during those Shark Week attack reenactments.”

She continues:

“Even some shark attack survivors, including me, know that sharks have more to fear from us than we do from them. Our survivors group actually works to save sharks.”

So if you, like Tracy Jordan, live every week like it’s Shark Week, remember that when the fun is over, sharks aren’t the monsters Sharkanado portrays them to be. Do you look forward to Shark Week every year?