![da da. da da. da da da da da da da da DA DAAA! [Jaws theme]](http://community.oceana.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/580x430/sites/default/files/photos/actions/Hussein from Cocos 200.jpg "Hussein from Cocos 200.jpg")
Oh, sharks. When will you stop being terrifying?
Late last week, police charged a man with disorderly conduct for saying he spotted two great whites off the beach of Martha's Vineyard - the selfsame spot where movie-monster Jaws hunted humans in 1974.
Too bad the man's sighting was fabricated, and cleared the beaches for no reason. While the Jaws mythos is still going strong, your chance of being killed by a shark is one in 264 million.
More on sharks
harbor and gray seals often frequent nearby sandbars and local fisherman have spotted great whites off the island's west coast.
I don't think the sharks are going to go after men, but lest we forget what happens when man becomes too comfortable around wild animals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Treadwell
I think the point is not
I think the point is not that great whites can't live off the Eastern seaboard, but that it's irresponsible to claim to spot great white sharks just to start a panic.
Timothy Treadwell was a special case, that's for sure, a very unusual guy. But Rob Stewart spent many hours filming sharks for his movie Sharkwater and was never threatened by them. They're not naturally drawn to humans as prey.
Suzannah is Oceana's publications editor.
The editors reserve the right to edit or remove comments from the site that are inappropriate, especially if they are defamatory, profane, or if they appear to be spam.