Just When You Thought It Was Safe

He’s baaack. Peter Benchley, that is, more than two decades after his novel and the movie “Jaws” scared the wits out of beachgoers. Thanks to Benchley, the great white shark became the nation’s boat-eating boogeyman, hiding in the nearest sleepy lagoon. But Benchley says he could not in good conscience write “Jaws” today, considering what he has learned about the great white--that it is a misunderstood, fragile and threatened species.

“Nowadays,” Benchley writes in the April edition of National Geographic magazine, “more people are coming to respect and appreciate sharks for what they are: beautiful, graceful, efficient and, above all, integral members of the ocean food chain.” They are protected in some areas as an endangered species. Law enforcement officials in those areas troll for poachers who kill the shark for its fins and jaws, or simply to be displayed as a tourist attraction.

Benchley attempts to dispel some of the myths that abounded after the “Jaws” phenomenon. The longest great white recorded was 19.5 feet. Claims that some reach 36 feet are more tale than tail. And there is no convincing evidence that this shark deliberately preys on humans. It may bite to sample the potential meal, but often spits it out. Too bony and too lean for its tastes, perhaps. Great whites thrive on the oceans’ plentiful seal fat.

Watch out for that first bite, though. One expert Benchley visited in Australia said it took 426 stitches to sew him up after an encounter, though only 74 people have been reported killed in great white attacks in the past century.

The great white remains a mysterious creature. We don’t know how many exist in the world’s oceans, how long they live and how many young they have. Benchley hopes that greater knowledge of the shark will help protect the species from its foremost enemy, the human being.