Demon Fish: an A to Z look at sharks and the world surrounding them

The summer has come to a close, Discovery's Shark Week has passed, sightings and shark incidents have once again brought out the "Summer of the Shark" hyperbole and so now, as the seas begin to calm, it's time for some well-written, intellectual discourse on the subject.

If one is interested in learning about sharks, there are quite a few books available - just do a search on your favorite online book retailer and you'll find a vast selection to choose from. There are many stunning picture or coffee table editions from which you can appreciate the variety of sharks. And there are some good informational books, many of which churn over the same information - almost a common vocabulary or library of factoids. It can be interesting to review some of these books based on when they were written; there's much that we keep learning about sharks so the science is continually being re-written.

However, I don't believe there has been a definitive volume that looks at not only the well-worn facts, but also the culture, the history of man's relationship with the shark and how that effects our past, present, and future attitudes - all of which play a hand in the shark's future and our own. No such volume existed until now, with the publication of Demon Fish by Juliet Eilperin (Pantheon Books).

Subtiltled Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks, Demon Fish represents several years of study by Ms. Eilperin into both the role of sharks within the marine ecosystem and the role it has played in our society. The reader experiences the big picture and the many players involved, from scientists to sportfishermen to commercial shark traders to island natives to worldwide conservation groups. Eilperin weaves these all together into a tapestry of interconnectivity: many may fear the shark, but it has been a part of our lives for centuries.

As the national environmental reporter for The Washington Post, Eilperin is the consummate journalist, digging deep for details, providing the background to put people, places, and events into context. For some who may be looking for a wild adventure yarn, there may be more detail here than desired. But to take a pass would be a shame. Demon Fish takes you into the world of the shark and the world that surrounds it. If sharks are to succeed as a species, we must understand and appreciate both worlds.

Eilperin writes of the many scientists, shark advocates, and conservation organizations that are working to both understand and protect sharks. Names like Peter Klimley, Robert Hueter, Neil Hammerschlag, Mahmood Shivjii, Barbara Block, South Africa's Alison Kock, and many others from around the world - some well-known in shark advocate circles, some perhaps not - all have their work highlighted to show what we are learning about sharks, how important they are to maintaining a healthy ocean, and why many of them are become scientist-activists as they reaffirm that the greater predator - the true villain in this aquatic play - is humankind itself.

However, even though Eilperin's pro-shark position is clear throughout the book, as a seasoned impartial journalist she also delves into the lives and the minds of those who we might think of as some of the shark's greatest adversaries: commercial shark traders, sport or commercial fishermen, and indifferent or anti-shark cultural attitudes particularly in Asia. This is an aspect of Demon Fish that I believe sets it apart from all the rest. From avid shark hunters like "Mark the Shark" Quartiano, who runs shark fishing charters out of Florida, to Yip Chiu Sung, a major Hong Kong trader in shark products, Eilperin's interviews and observations paint a complete portrait of those who view sharks as a commodity or as a demon that needs to be destroyed.

For many of today's fervent shark advocates, having this backstory view of those who they would prefer to condemn is critically important as more and more legislation and regulations are being proposed worldwide to protect sharks. In today's political world, the success of such policies will depend on strategies that can convince and win over those who view sharks more in economic rather than ecological terms. Demon Fish allows us to know our enemies just as much as our heroes.

Centuries ago, many cultures respected and even worshiped sharks - some island nations still do. But for the most part there was a cultural shift that propagated fear and ignorance. It has taken time, but those attitudes are now wreaking havoc on an entire species. Meticulously written, Juliet Eilperin's Demon Fish comes closest to being the alpha/omega examination on how we got to where we are today, what's being done, and what may lie ahead.

Man Bites Shark: a rational look at reports of increased shark encounters

For better or worse, this is the shark's time of year. Newspapers, magazines, television programming and news broadcast, and motion pictures - all forms of media jump on the bandwagon to herald the summer of the shark. Nearly one-third of my posts this month, so far, have been about sharks - and I wasn't even making a conscious choice to do so.

Fueling the annual fire this year about sharks - particularly any shark-human interactions - is the fact that there have been more human interactions with sharks. There are a multitude of reasons behind this, depending on the location and the shark species, but complex explanations are not the stuff of quick sound bites and hot-of-the-press headlines. However, without delving into the devilish details then people are left to fall back on simplistic reasons that plug into their primal curiosity mixed with fear of these animals: the number of sharks are growing; and they are out to get us.

And so, at the apex of the annual shark mania (or nadir, depending on your point of view), I present the calm, rational position statement - not from my hand but from The Washington Post's national environmental science write, Juliet Eilperin. Writing for Foreign Policy, Man Bites Shark is an overview of man's interaction with the shark world from the 1500s to today. It examines the reasons why more sharks, ranging from benign whale sharks to great white sharks, have been reported in the past few years, and why shark attacks increased by 25% in 2010.

In many respects, we are two species on a collision course. And the one steering the boat is mankind.

At first glance, sharks -- with their sharp jaws, torpedo-shaped bodies, and unusual sensing abilities -- appear to be bizarre vestiges of a distant past. But they can also tell us a lot about our present and our future. Where sharks appear in big numbers, coral reefs and other marine life around them thrive because they remove weak and sick animals from the system and can keep midlevel predators in check. When they shift their migrations, scientists often detect a shift in ocean temperatures and prey populations. For researchers seeking to create a more efficient electric battery, faster vessels, or a robot that can track oil and chemical spills underwater, sharks' sleek and extraordinarily efficient bodies offer inspiration for design. In countries where their fins end up at the dinner table, economists can generally find rising incomes. The animal humans fear most has become a global commodity, an economic indicator, and environmental harbinger of things to come.

In many ways, the movie character Matt Hooper was right on the money when he said, "All sharks want to do is swim, eat, and make little sharks." That can be said of almost every creature in the sea. It's mankind that has the multiple agendas that put us in touch with sharks, from tourism to fishing to research to storytelling.

In Man Bites Shark, Ms. Eilperin is the objective journalist, putting emotions aside - either pro-shark or anti-shark. Just the facts.

During the 20th century, the increase in shark attacks in Florida -- which leads the world in shark strikes almost every year -- closely tracked both the state's population rise and the number of people going to the beach, according to statistics compiled by the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File. In 1900, Florida's population stood at 530,000, and there was one unprovoked shark strike between 1900 and 1909; by 1950, the state had 2.77 million residents, and attacks that decade totaled 13; by 2000, when the population had soared to nearly 16 million, 256 shark strikes took place over the course of the decade.

Many of us familiar with sharks have heard this argument before: more people equals more shark encounters. Ms. Eilperin adds credibility by giving us the numbers. In addition, she adds balance to sensational reports of a mass schooling of blacktip reef sharks off Palm Beach, Florida; congregating whales sharks off the Yucatan Peninsula; or increased white shark sightings off the California coast.

Noteworthy, Man Bites Shark is not appearing at the check-out counter in People magazine; it's in Foreign Policy and so Ms. Eilperin turns her attention to the environmental and economic disaster we have visited upon the shark and some of the complex diplomatic jockeying that has been taking place amongst nations.

International trade and fishery management meetings have become a series of regional skirmishes. Japan and China have managed to torpedo trade protections at international fishery-management bodies for species ranging from hammerhead to porbeagle sharks, in part through forging alliances with smaller countries such as Grenada, Suriname, and St. Kitts and Nevis. But the United States has continued to press the case, along with both European officials and those from countries such as Palau and the Maldives, both of which have banned shark fishing in their waters.

Cheri McCarty, a foreign affairs specialist in the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of International Affairs, has spent the last two-and-a-half years negotiating over shark protections in the global arena, and she has gotten used to the weary reactions her presence can provoke. "There are times I'll go to meetings where people say, 'Oh no, not the U.S. pushing sharks again.' But slowly but surely, we have more allies on our side now."

If you are already bitten by the "I love sharks" bug, Man Bite Shark is no cure; it's a rational affirmation of a position that seems to be slowly growing. If you are on the fence and what you have been reading in the news or are about to watch on television this weekend gives you pause, then you should read Man Bites Shark, too. A little common sense between handfuls of popcorn or chewing your nails nervously wouldn't hurt.

Read Man Bites Shark in Foreign Policy.