Sharks are scary. They are predators, can attack you when you are swimming at the beach, they look scary with their teeth sticking out of their mouths and popular representations of those animals in movies and stories did not help with this problematic image (popular culture probably did the opposite of helping actually).
Sharks are not cute, nor are they cuddly. They do not have endearing qualities, such as fierce paternal instincts and behavior, to make up for their ugliness. Shark pups are known to consume each other in the womb. As this fact is so shockingly different than what humans can relate to, it creates a barrier to feeling attached to, protective of, and invested in, the shark.
Bader & Cegredin 2015
While they might look scary, sharks are crucial to marine ecosystems and the balance of oceans. And this problematic reputation they gained over the years hinders conservation efforts to safeguard these animals.
To change the public perception of sharks and change the narrative around these animals, sharks must be presented to the public as more than ferocious predators. While there are many ways to achieve this, one option lies in the use of 24h webcams.
Webcams placed in the wild, or in aquariums, and streamed 24/24h on internet platforms allow users to see places and observe the animals living there from wherever in the world, whenever they like. Ethical claims around the use of webcams in conservation efforts are that they allow users to build a connection to the animals. This would then create a bond between the people watching and the animals, which would raise awareness and public concern about the conservation of said animals.
Hence, webcams recording sharks could help present these animals in a more gentle and nuanced way than pop culture movies like Jaws, or other thriller type movies on the topic.
To research how a user could feel as in the presence of sharks when watching webcam livestreams, I watched two livestreams every day for a week. Using the platform explore.org, I chose the livestream of a webcam situated in the Atlantic Ocean, under the Frying Pan Tower and a livestream of a shark lagoon in an aquarium in Long Beach, California. I wrote two phenomenological anecdotes on this experience on the theme of the influence of frame (moving or still).
Two phenomenological anecdotes:
The aquarium tank in my screen, influence of a fixed frame webcam:
I am attentively looking at my screen, following the moves of the grumpy looking shark as it swims around the tank slowly. I have been trying to follow its movement on my screen to test if I can actually see all the way to the back of the tank. It gets smaller and then grows to the full size of my screen when it comes close. When it is at the other end of the tank, I can barely distinguish a shadow but I know it is the grumpy shark because I recognise its slow pace. It always moves at this impressively slow pace, which is very relaxing to watch. As the shark slowly swims to the back, I notice the turtle actively swimming against the wall. I am wondering if that is where it gets fed, or if the turtle is tired of the contained space and the thought of it makes me sad. I see the stingray and the ray shark (or what I call them because I don’t know what their species actually are). They are lying close together in the sand. It makes me smile. I go back to the grumpy shark, which has not moved along by much. Its slow pace makes it stand out from the other smaller sharks who move around faster. The view from my screen is clear and slow and I can check on all the tank’s inhabitants whenever I want since most often they are all in the frame. Suddenly, the frame moves. The camera shakes as if something hit it. I notice thins blocking the image of the stream and I recognise the turtle. The frame moves again as the turtle keeps knocking the camera. It came to swim actively against the walls by the camera. I see up-close images of the turtles’ body for a while as the camera shakes. I smile in my chair, completely fascinated and invested in the stream. Then the turtle swims back a bit and looks at the camera for a few seconds. It swims away and I happily sight. That was weird but also kind of special.
An unnatural gaze, the influence of a moving frame webcam:
The frame is moving slowly as if it was looking around. I see the grey sea, small fishes swimming around slowly and moving with waves. The frames stay stills for a while. I enjoy watching the light coming from above the surface, the fishes move with the waves, and I hear the sound of the water moving, almost as if it is around me. The frame moves with my gaze. Some bigger fishes with scary teeth are slowly moving with the waves as well. The camera looks up. It is as if I was sitting on the sea floor, looking up. A shark appears in the frame and I freeze in my chair. I intensely stare at the shark in my screen, observing its every moves. The camera accompanies it slowly for a bit and I smile, happy to be able to see it for a while longer. It is peaceful and I gaze at the surface of the water above me. Suddenly, the camera spins around 180 degrees so fast it gives me nausea. Why? It never did that before. I am now looking at a place I feel like I have not seen yet although I have been watching that stream for four days now. The frame stays on this metal structure for a while. Fishes swim around it, I am trying to recognise it. Then a group of fishes comes up to the camera. They get so close my eyes twitch as if the fishes were actually on my face. I am enjoying the livestream again. Another shark passes by and swims to the left of the frame. I sit up in my chair and my body tenses up, ready to soak in the experience. My gaze is already moving to the left to follow the shark. Then the camera moves to the right, away from it. My gaze stays attached to the shark for as long as it is in the frame then I sit back in my chair, sitting there, my back tense, my eyes still wide open. I sight, frustrated at what just happened. The camera is looking at the floor. I can see algae on the seafloor, floating like fluffy grass with the movement of the waves. I am frustrated and really wondering what is happening with the frame today. There are small colourful fishes swimming close to the sea floor. My body relaxes and I lean closer to look at them, still sulking but slowly forgetting about the frame forcefully taking my gaze away from the shark.
Feeling “as if in the presence of sharks” is referred to using the concept of co-presence, defined as the feeling of being in the same place, despite being in different geographical locations (Pols, 2012, p.100). The findings of my research suggest that feeling as if in the presence of sharks depends on many different factors, including the frame. Firstly, a moving frame can strongly emphasise co-presence if it moves slowly and mimics a natural gaze. Secondly, the closeness of the animal can encourage feelings of co-presence. Finally, a fixed frame can create co-presence in a different way. In my case, it brought the place broadcasted in my room rather than bringing me in the place broadcasted.
While I would love to send you my research if you are interested, the purpose of this blog post is to encourage you to experiment with wildlife webcams. I had a lot of fun watching animals swim around in my screen. To have this in the background, especially when the livestream also has sound is very nice and if you have interest in a specific animal or ecosystem, check out platforms like explore.org and dive into it!
