Environmentalists have successfully used images of cute panda bears and other animals to attract people to the issue of conservation. In the case of sharks, the story has been much more difficult because of our image of them as man-eaters. (I wish Spielberg would be more involved, as his movie Jaws played a large role in this fear.) I'll admit to walking on water the first time I encountered a reasonably sized (5-6 ft. +/-) reef shark while diving in Honduras, but I quickly realized that the shark was as afraid of me, perhaps more. Elsewhere I have encountered Zambezi sharks (aka bull sharks), ragged tooth sharks (sand tiger) and great whites while in the water. They may be intimidating because of preconceived ideas, but like many others, I wasn't bothered by them.
While cage diving with great whites, I had to go in the cage without air because it would spook the sharks despite all of the visitors that day being 10-15 feet in size. Yes, the air bubbles scared the feared great white. Consistently sharks are curious though very cautious with humans and for good reason. Sharks are often casualties of long line fishing fleets or worse still, caught, fins cut and thrown back into the sea to die. American Rob Stewart has a documentary out about the global problem of rapidly declining shark populations and the link includes a movie trailer. They may not necessarily be cuddly, but sharks are critical to the oceans.
