Oregon Coast Aquarium Celebrates Shark Week

Published 07/30/2010

A spiny dogfish, one of five species of sharks that reside in the Oregon Coast Aquarium’s Passages of the Deep exhibit.

(Newport, Oregon) – It’s something TV show host Craig Ferguson would get jazzed about: a week full of sharks at Oregon Coast Aquarium.

The aquarium will celebrate Sharks August 1 - 14 with a variety of events highlighting the fascinating world of sharks. All of the sharks exhibited at the Oregon Coast Aquarium are species native to Oregon’s coastal waters. Visitors will meet the sharks from Oregon’s coast during the two week celebration of sharks.

Shark Week Activities:

August 1-14  Shark books, DVD’s and educational toys available in the Aquarium Gift Shop;

August 1 - 14 Shark Information Station with bio-facts, 10 am - 4 pm;

August 5 & 12 Theater Presentation, “ Myths & Misconceptions,”  2 pm;

August 6 & 13 Shark Dissection, 2 pm;

Saturday, August 7 and Saturday,  August 14, Face Painting, 11 am –2:30 pm;

August 7 & 14 Dive Presentations about sharks, 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, 1:30 and 2:30.

Sharks have been depicted as man-eaters and killers for centuries. The reality is that of the more than 350 species, only a handful pose any threat to humans. Sharks and their ancestors have presided over the seas for nearly 400 million years, but in the wild today, shark populations are suffering from human activity. More than half of the shark species taken in high-seas fisheries are classified as Endangered, Vulnerable or Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Through habitat destruction and overfishing, humans have become more dangerous to sharks than they are to us.

“One of the biggest impacts on shark populations is the practice of shark-finning – catching a shark, slicing off its fins and then discarding the body at sea,” according to the Pew Charitable Trust, a Conservation organization that recently introduced legislation to outlaw this practice. Up to 73 million sharks are killed for their fins, valued for the Asian delicacy “shark fin soup.”

The Aquarium’s Shark Celebration spotlights sharks as important members of their ocean habitats, unlike the man-eating monsters portrayed in the movies.  Sharks live in oceans around the globe - from warm shallows to the cold, deep sea and even fresh water lakes.     

Oregon Coast Aquarium, South Beach (Newport), Oregon. (541) 867-3474. www.aquarium.org.

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