A new TV series called “Shark Hunters” aired its first episode tonight on NBC, and that doesn’t sit right with Andrew Mills – a Scuba diver from Carmel, CA – who has launched a campaign urging NBC to “stop showing, promoting and developing this program and sport.” The petition Andrew has started is being directed to Mark Lazarus, Chairman of the NBC Sports Group and Jon Miller, President of Programming of NBC Sports.
According to NBC, the six-episode series which premiered Wednesday, July 30, “follows five boats as they search for the deadliest predator in the ocean, and compete for hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money. The success or failure of each boat relies not only on the skills of the captain and crews, but also on the unpredictability of mother nature. The competition will take place over three separate tournaments on the Eastern end of Long Island and Block Island R.I.”
The program is focused on three tournaments that give financial prizes for bringing in dead sharks from 3 species for the highest catch weight. The three shark species are mako, thresher and porbeagle. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), all three of these species are listed as “Vulnerable”.
Andrew’s position states that “Programs like this not only glamorize shark hunting and killing but also make the whole action “OK”. Without our oceans clean up crew (the sharks!) the oceans health will continue to decline. Please join me in asking NBC to stop showing, promoting and developing this program and sport.”
Andrew’s goal is to get 10,000 signatures. The petition, which was just launched, has just over 500 signers. Click here to visit the change.org page for more information and see his petition.