The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores will be featuring Shark Week from July 26 through August 1. According to their website, Shark Week will “offer a close-up look at these mysterious and often misunderstood predators,” and will offer family-oriented activities including:
- touching a bamboo shark
- competing for prizes in Shark Jeopardy
- classroom activities for children involving shark-related crafts and games
- a chance to have your picture taken in the replicated jaws of a huge, prehistoric megalodon
- viewing shark-feeding programs
- talking to Aquarium divers as they swim with sharks in the Live Dive programs
Sand Tiger Shark at NC Aquarium - Pine Knoll Shores (Living Shipwreck exhibit)
In addition to these activities, shark-related films will be shown in the “Big Rock Theater” including Rob Stewart’s award-winning documentary, SharkWater.
Shark conservation and education is not overlooked on the NC Aquarium’s Shark Week website, which points out that, “Most shark bites along East Coast shorelines have been attributed to sharks mistaking swimmers for fish…The human impact on sharks poses another sort of threat. Over-fishing, hunting, pollution and other factors have caused shark numbers to decline worldwide. Many shark species are classified as endangered and all northwest Atlantic shark species have dramatically declined in the past 15 years.”
The NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores (located in Atlantic Beach, NC) is home to sand tiger sharks, nurse sharks, a sandbar shark, and a bonnethead shark.
It’s nice to see the aquarium organizing what appears to be a environmentally-responsible and educational Shark Week. Perhaps, other organizations will wake up to the idea that conservation-minded, educational content can be also be fun and interesting.