Shark Week 2020 | 'Air Jaws: Ultimate Breach-Off': Is Seal Island's disappointing shark turnout worrisome?
Three teams of researchers return to one of the last hunting grounds for one of Discovery Channel's most popular Shark Week specials — 'Air Jaws' 2020's 'Ultimate Breach-Off'. The purpose was to use decoys, drones and underwater cameras to count the breaches like the special does every year, and in the process, collect data on hunting techniques to see if the shark population is rebounding.
Team Fallows, Team Towner and Team Gennari track these thousands of Great Whites through the day and night in 'Air Jaws' 2020. But the team of experts had drifted to these risky waters expecting some 30 aerial breaches or sightings of sharks jumping out of the water to pounce at decoy preys. Sadly, their trip is cut short with disappointment as barely any of the Great Whites pop up. In that, they do, but in the words of the narration, this lack of sighting is troubling and worrisome.
Experts Chris Fallows and Alison Turner take the rounds of Seal Island in False Bay, South Africa, as they track the flying Great White sharks who have been an attraction for years. These giant sharks leap several feet high up in the air to catch their prey. Enrique Gennari, another expert, was keeping tabs on this very breach in the night and although he did get lucky eventually to prove that Great Whites do come out at night, the lack and gaps in each sighting were worrisome.
The narration reveals that the South West side of Seal Island is where the water is thick with the remaining sharks. Called the hit zone, this area of the island sees seal pups out and about, thus making it a viable spot to pop up every now and then for the gigantic mammals. But as Towner reflects at the end of the episode, despite spotting some three to four sharks each on a three-day event, there are very, very selective spots on the planet than can be still classified as a safe haven for these sharks.
Towner believes they must do everything to keep these preservatories out of the public eye. But even though that seems promising for the thinning shark population in the surrounding waters of what used to be South Africa's pride in terms of breaches, the lack of them this year isn't just worrisome for the expert teams but also for viewers as one does get a really clear idea of the dissipating population of these vicious creatures.
'Air Jaws: Ultimate Breach-Off' 2020 aired on Sunday, August 10, at 8/9c only on Discovery Channel.