Shark Week on Discovery Channel, has thrown up some controversial footage. In the sequence, a tiger shark named Emma is baited and when she takes the bait, is pulled by the crew up towards the surface. The shark resists and the line holding the bait parts, causing the gantry arm to which it was attached to swing round and strike the crew. The film was shot by Guerney Productions as a segment called “How Sharks Hunt” with Dave Canterbury and Cody Lundin as presenters.

This raised two question: Firstly, is this sort of activity really acceptable for people’s entertainment and secondly, does this do any good for shark or marine conservation? Wetpixel moderator Drew Wong has posted about this in the forum and please feel free to discuss what, if any, action should be taken to attempt to stop filming like this from taking place.