Mega Shark Episode of “Shark Week” is a Fraud
According to reports, the episode of Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” called Mega Shark falsely measures a shark that researchers already were well aware of. In the episode, hosts claim the shark is over 20 feet long and could possibly be the largest ever captured on film, which they also claimed last year in the same location of Guadalupe Island, Mexico, after filming the shark, Deep Blue.
Responding to the episode, Nicole Nasby-Lucas and Michael Domeier of the Marine Conservation Science Institute, stated via Facebook:
“Island of the Mega Shark was a very low point for Shark Week! The program is devoid of any meaningful new shark information while misleading the public on many fronts. The “Mega Shark” they film is Tailscratch, a shark we captured and tagged in 2009. Tailscratch is NOT more than 20′ long and she is NOT the largest shark ever filmed. There are far larger sharks at Guadalupe.
“The method they use for measuring sharks is not accurate, since both the shark and the measuring stick must be in exactly the same plane. In fact, they measure the same shark twice during the program, once stating she is 12′ long and then later stating she is 16′ long. We know that shark too…that’s Lucy.
“Our research has shown that Guadalupe Island is a mating site that is actively avoided by females that are pregnant. In fact, we tracked Tailscratch through a 2-year migration and she avoided the island when she was pregnant. When a large shark eats an elephant seal it looks huge; not even a trained scientist can tell the difference between a pregnant shark and one that has eaten an enormous meal.
“The program describes an important mission to help scientists, meanwhile no scientists were on the trip and many of the films “discoveries” have been been previously discovered and published in scientific papers. Ugh!”
h/t/ – Grind