We see a woman swimming at night in a dark sea. Suddenly, she is pulled underwater. She surfaces, cries in fear, then disappears forever. This is the opening scene from the 1975film Jaws, showing a shark attack. It was a great success, attracting huge audiences and winning many awards. It also strengthened people's long-held idea of the great white shark.
People have always been scared of sharks, but Jaws made things worse. Many people who saw the film started to believe that sharks were dangerous animals that ate humans. Some started fishing for sharks, killing as many as they could. At that time, nobody cared if sharks were killed, or how many were killed.
After 1975, the number of large sharks fell quickly. This was not only due to fear of sharks, but also finning. Finning is a type of fishing where sharks are caught and their fins(鳍) cut off to be used in shark fin soup. Finning kills millions of sharks a year.
Finning would have an unexpected effect upon Peter Benchley, the man who wrote the book the film Jaws was based on. In 1980, Benchley came across an awful sight in an area where fishermen were finning, leaving the sea floor covered with dead sharks. Benchley saw sharks being killed and this caused a deep change in him. He came to see people as a danger to sharks, rather than the other way round. From that day on, he fought to protect sharks. He admitted that his book was wrong about sharks' behavior. "Sharks don't target humans, " he said.
Fortunately, not everyone who watched the film Jaws became afraid of sharks — some became interested in understanding them. Today, as we learn more about sharks, more people than ever want to protect them from extinction.