JAWS

Research into the effect of Jaws on the relationships and attitudes of humans and sharks.

Oliver Crimmen, who's been the fish curator at the Natural History Museum in London for more than 40 years

The calls for their protection are getting louder and although most people find it hard to love them, sharks are garnering more respect. We are less likely to criminalise them and more prone to accept their presence. It is a trend that would have delighted Peter Benchley.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33049099

The author of Jaws, Peter Benchley, was deeply perturbed by this. "Knowing what I know now, I could never write that book today," he said, years later. "Sharks don't target human beings, and they certainly don't hold grudges." He spent much of the rest of his life campaigning for the protection of sharks.

And research by biologist Dr Julia Baum suggests that between 1986 and 2000, in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, there was a population decline of 89% in hammerhead sharks, 79% in great white sharks and 65% in tiger sharks.