From an interview with David Shiffman, a marine conservation biologist at Arizona State University, conducted in February by Lisa Margonelli for The Ongoing Transformation, a podcast.

david shiffman: When most people think about sharks, they think about sharks as being a threat to you and your family. That’s not true, but it makes people think that sharks are bad, when sharks are good.

lisa margonelli: They’re also part of an information web to ensnare small children into becoming shark fanatics.

shiffman: If you look at movies like The Little Mermaid, every single fish or crab can not only talk but sing—­except for the shark.

lisa margonelli: And there is Shark Week.

shiffman: We just completed a study where we had research assistants watch all of Shark Week. It is worse than I thought.

lisa margonelli: Give me some of the highlights.

shiffman: Out of more than two hundred episodes, there are only six—not sixty, six—that have even a single actionable step to help save sharks.

lisa margonelli: And there’s misleading information about the scientists?

shiffman: My field, the field of shark science, is more than half women. On Shark Week, among the people featured in more than one episode, not only are there more men than women—there are more men named Mike who are not scientists than there are women.

lisa margonelli: So, I guess the takeaway from this is: don’t fear the sharks; fear the people who are using the sharks.

shiffman: Yeah. More people die from flowerpots falling on their heads when they walk down the street than are killed by sharks. It’s just not something you need to worry about.