How Shark Friendly TV is Transforming Public Perception

How Shark Friendly TV is Transforming Public Perception: A Diver’s Perspective

Sharks have long been some of the most misunderstood creatures in our oceans. For decades, sensationalist media and Hollywood thrillers have painted them as ruthless killers lurking beneath the surface, just waiting for a swimmer or surfer to stray too far from shore. For those of us who dive regularly and share our time underwater with these majestic animals, that narrative has always felt like an enormous disservice.

Over the years, I’ve spent hours in the water with many types of sharks, from Walls of reef sharks in the currents of the Maldives to the famous Tiger beach. Never once have I felt like prey. Never once have I left the water with anything other than awe and admiration. And now, for the first time in a long time, it feels like the tide is turning.

Recently, streaming platforms like Netflix have started to do what mainstream television has largely failed to accomplish for decades. Programs like All the Sharks and Shark Whisperer are flipping the script. They are re-educating the public, casting sharks not as villains but as vital, intelligent, and endangered members of marine ecosystems. From my perspective as a diver, underwater photographer, and someone who has spent a career trying to bridge the gap between ocean and audience, these new media approaches could not have come soon enough.

Before we discuss these shows though, we must remember that we are all divers, and as such we know more about the ocean than almost every other type of person on Earth. With that knowledge comes the instinct to critique every diving show we see—pointing out poor buoyancy, touching the bottom, or other missteps. But focusing only on these flaws misses the broader purpose of these programs: to educate the public about sharks and marine life. For many viewers, these shows are their only exposure to the underwater world, shaped more by Hollywood than firsthand experience.

So let’s look at these shows from the perspective they bring and the influence they have on non-divers and how that can benefit divers and sharks alike.

Redefining the Narrative

All the Sharks is a program where pairs of divers compete in various locations around the world to capture on camera as many different sharks as they can underwater. They rack up points through their journey based on the rarity and number of sharks they manage to get shots of. The trip they go on is literally every divers dream, Bahamas, South Africa, Japan, French Polynesia and finishing up in the Galapagos.

Perhaps the most refreshing thing about All the Sharks is its refusal to lean into the tired tropes of shark terror. It doesn’t dramatize close encounters or play ominous music over slow-motion fin shots. Instead, it invites viewers into the world of these animals with curiosity and respect. The cinematography is intimate without being invasive, showcasing sharks in their natural behaviors and also focusing on not just well known species but some of the smaller more unusual species as well as rays.

The program embraces human contact with sharks, underwater in their natural habitat just as we divers do every time we see a shark. This is a far cry from the usual TV program that only points to them being man eating monsters; it really is rewriting the narrative to people who have only ever been shown terror stories.

Then there’s Shark Whisperer, which takes a more personal approach by following shark conservationist Ocean Ramsey as she works to demystify and destigmatize sharks. In all honesty, this show is not really for me. I don’t like the touching of the sharks and the messaging in it is a little too fluffy for my personal tastes. But what this program does for people who fear sharks is truly excellent. It really shines the light on a whole new perspective that is new to those people, and I, as a pro ocean individual only see that as a great thing.

The Diver’s Dilemma

For those of us in the diving community, this shift in public perception is deeply personal. We’ve spent years trying to convince friends, family, and students that sharks are not the monsters they’ve been led to believe. I know many people who admitted to me that their biggest fear before their Open Water course was encountering a shark. Not because they had any real experience, but because they had been conditioned to associate sharks with danger. After some time diving, they become super excited to see sharks and can’t wait to get in the water when there is an opportunity to see them.

That’s where these shark-friendly programs come in. They serve as a proxy for firsthand experience. For people who will never don scuba gear or venture into remote blue water environments, shows like All the Sharks and Shark Whisperer offer the next best thing. They create an emotional connection through storytelling, allowing viewers to reimagine their relationship with these animals.

Conservation Through Connection

This shift in perception is not just philosophical, it has real-world conservation implications. Shark populations are in critical decline. Over-fishing, by-catch, finning, and habitat degradation have pushed many species to the brink. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that some shark populations have declined by over 70 percent in the last fifty years. It’s a sobering reality that cannot be addressed without widespread public support.

Historically, sharks have been a tough sell when it comes to conservation fundraising. Charismatic megafauna like dolphins, turtles, and whales capture the public imagination in ways that sharks never quite could. But that’s beginning to change. Social media movements like #SaveTheSharks and #FinFree are gaining traction, and documentary-style programs are amplifying their reach.

What’s so effective about these new series is that they don’t guilt viewers into caring. Instead, they build empathy through exposure. They showcase sharks, they make them seem endearing and safe. These are the qualities that people need to see in order to care.

A New Generation of Shark Advocates

Another thing that excites me about the rise of shark-positive programming is its potential to inspire a new generation of ocean advocates. In the past I have written about how sad it is that media has not been producing diving based TV, and the effect that has on the dive industry as a whole. For sharks, there has been a lot of media attention on them, but until these types of programs it was all negative attention.

Underwater Photography as a Bridge

As an underwater photographer, I’ve always believed in the power of images to change hearts and minds. The photos I have taken of sharks cause me to get the most questions form non-divers. You can see the fear in their eyes, and they think you are crazy for taking these shots. But when you can have a rational conversation about sharks with them, then you can see their perspective changing. This is the power of the images we take; they are thought provoking for those who don’t dive. What these programs have done so well is marry powerful visuals with human narratives. They put sharks in context. They show scale, beauty, behavior, and complexity.

They also encourage ethical cinematography. All the Sharks is careful to avoid staging or showing any images of sharks feeding in the show. All scenes are calm and relaxed without any shark stress. This sets a strong example for aspiring underwater photographers who might otherwise be tempted to replicate the more dramatic, but less authentic, shots popularized in the early days of shark documentaries.

Changing the Industry from Within

Over recent times our own industry has even begun to change the way it markets shark encounters. The language is softer, more reverent. We’re moving away from “face your fears” narratives and toward “witness the wild” themes. It’s a small shift, but one that suggests a deeper change in attitude.

Some operators are even collaborating with scientists and filmmakers to contribute to citizen science efforts. Divers are encouraged to log sightings, record behaviors, and submit photographs for research databases. It turns passive viewers into active stewards of the ocean.

The Road Ahead

We still have a long way to go. Misconceptions about sharks remain deeply rooted in popular culture, and the ecological challenges facing these animals are immense. But for the first time in a long time, I feel a sense of hope. Not because the oceans have become any less imperiled, but because public attitudes are beginning to align with the reality we divers have known all along.

If we are going to save sharks, it will not be through fear but through familiarity. It will be because enough people were moved by a scene in a documentary, inspired by a conservationist or captivated by the silent beauty of a reef shark gliding through the deep. That’s the power of storytelling. That’s the promise of these new programs.

As divers, we have a responsibility to amplify these messages. We are witnesses to a world most people will never see firsthand. If television can open a door, we can be the ones to walk people through it, to offer context, dispel myths, and share the awe that keeps us going back, dive after dive.

So the next time someone asks you about sharks, don’t reach for statistics or argue with fear. Show them an episode of All the Sharks. Introduce them to the Shark Whisperer. Let the ocean speak for itself.