Steven Spielberg acknowledged that he regrets the impact his 1975 smash “Jaws” had on the shark population.
“I regret to this day that the book and movies led to the extinction of the shark population. Spielberg, 75, expressed sorrow during an interview with Lauren Laverne on the BBC’s “Desert Island Discs.”
According to the Sunday Times of London, Laverne asked the director how it felt to be trapped on an island surrounded by sharks, to which the three-time Oscar-winning director said, “That’s one of the things I still fear.”
“Not to be devoured by a shark,” he stressed, “but that sharks are upset at me for the feeding frenzy of crazed sports fisherman that occurred after 1975.”
Based on Peter Benchley’s best-selling novel of the same name, the Oscar-winning thriller depicts the tale of a man-eating great white shark that devoured people of the fictitious Amity Island in New England.
In 2016, researcher George Burgess informed the Florida Museum that shortly after the film’s debut, sharks’ fins became a target.
“When the movie was out, there was a collective surge of testosterone up and down the East Coast of the United States,” he said, noting that fisherman believed catching a trophy shark was a way to demonstrate their bravery, and tournaments for catching sharks began to emerge.
According to The Independent, Benchley has previously expressed remorse about creating the novel, which sold an estimated 20 million copies.
“There is no such thing as a rogue shark that develops a desire for human flesh,” the author told the Animal Attack Files in 2000. Nobody recognizes how susceptible they are to ruin.
»Steven Spielberg issues an apology to shark population for “Jaws.”«