Boats in the ocean waters are seeing an increase in the number of sharks attacking the boats. Now, a team of scientists is trying to determine why sharks are drawn to attack boats in the National Geographic documentary, “Jaws vs. Boat.” The scientists encourage the sharks to attack their boat and to try to see what is causing these predators to chomp down on boats.

This is a very interesting documentary. Most of these documentaries have demonstrated that sharks usually like to avoid contact with humans, making attacks very rare. But boats all over the world are seeing an increase in shark attacks. The team came across a couple of possible causes.

Many times sharks will attack boats out fishing due to their chum bag. Deep sea fishermen will put a bag of chum in the water in an effort to draw fish to it to catch them. It makes sense that sharks, being a fish as well, would be drawn to the chum bags too. They are hungry and can smell something appealing so they will try to snag the chum bag. It makes sense, but doesn’t seem to be the only cause, because of the number of sharks that attack boats that aren’t out fishing and don’t have chum bags.

This documentary explains that many sharks have electroreception, a way of detecting electric fields caused by movement in the water. That’s normally something that serves them well when searching for food, but when you add the electric fields caused by rudders and electric boats, it could cause the electroreception to go haywire, leading to the sharks attacking the boats. This connects to hunger, as well, so there may be a connection of suspected food.

It’s wild to think that sharks are attacking some of these larger boats presented in this documentary. While I’ve always understood the concept of sharks attacking someone on a surfboard, in a kayak or in a canoe, it’s odd to see the attacks on the larger boats. While these possible causes are far from definitive explanations, they give us something to look towards when it comes to sharks attacking boats. But the most important thing to remember from this documentary is that shark attacks are still rare and it’s incredibly unlikely for there to be an attack like was seen in “Jaws.”

Ranking: 4 stars

What did you think of “Jaws vs. Boat?”

Jeremy Brown

Jeremy has been a big Disney fan since he was a kid growing up during the Disney Renaissance. One day he hopes to go to every Disney Park in the world.

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