Shark Week is 30 Years Old – Amazing!
As Discovery Channel is proud to tell anyone in earshot, their 30 year old baby is “television’s longest-running and eagerly awaited summer TV event.”
So, for the few uninitiated, what exactly is Shark Week?
Shark week is programming that excites, educates, and advocates. The shows offer thrilling shark stories, surprising shark insights and groundbreaking shark research for eight consecutive evenings. This year’s event runs from Sunday, July 22 – Sunday, July 29.
JULY 15 ENTRY DEADLINE HAS BEEN REACHED – THANK YOU
So how popular is Shark Week? Here’s a hint… Southwest Airlines, working in conjunction with Discovery Channel, just launched a fleet of five aircraft to celebrate Shark Week’s 30th anniversary! Each airplane features original artwork depicting a species of shark.
Business Insider reports that “the Great White Shark and Hammerhead Shark aircraft launched from Dallas Love Field; the Tiger Shark aircraft launched from Chicago’s Midway; the Bull Shark aircraft launched from Houston’s Hobby; and the Mako Shark aircraft launched from Phoenix Sky Harbor.”
And, while Rhode Island won’t see any Sand Shark aircraft launched from its T.F. Green Airport, it is, after all, the Ocean State, and, thus, has a vested interest in all things shark.
Perhaps the state’s hub of “sharkiness” can be found at the University of Rhode Island. URI’s labs and classrooms, located in southern Rhode Island, are just minutes away from the extensive wooded areas, streams, ponds, estuaries, rocky shores, sandy beaches, and open ocean waters that make the Ocean State such a perfect place to learn about sharks and their sea-loving cohabitants
Within URI’s College of the Environment and Life Sciences Department of Biological Sciences, Dr. Bradley Wetherbee teaches young minds about marine biology, ecology, physiology and, yes, shark biology. His research interests span from biochemistry and physiology to movement ecology and management of marine resources, specifically sharks. Yes, Bradley Wetherbee is Rhode Island’s shark guy.
And Dr. Wetherbee will be talking sharks in Rhode Island in the very near future. In anticipation of Shark Week, IYRS School of Technology and Trades, whose boat building and restoration program might be a valuable asset to sharkophiles who perhaps “need a bigger boat,” and Cox Media have teamed to offer an exciting Shark Week sweepstakes screening and celebration event on Saturday, July 21st. And one of the program’s speakers : Dr Bradley Wetherbee.
Perhaps, the biggest problem facing all sharks today, and certainly a worry of Wetherbee’s is finning. Up to a hundred million sharks have their fins cut off each year, primarily to make a special kind of soup which is a delicacy in Asia.
“It is banned in US waters and some other places, but on the high seas and international waters and most countries around the world, it’s wide open,” Dr. Wetherbee has explained to WBZ-TV.
He added, “All of our (shark) research is geared towards conservation. We just want to unravel some of the mysteries of these sharks. You know, they are fascinating, and mysterious.”
YOU CAN WIN GUARANTEED ADMITTANCE TO THE JULY 21 IYRS /COX SHARK WEEK SCREENING EVENT PLUS FOUR TICKETS FOR A CRUISE ON THE RUM RUNNER II EARLIER THAT AFTERNOON RIGHT HERE OR BY CLICKING THE “ENTER TO WIN BANNER” ABOVE.
EVENT IS OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC AS WELL ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS.
