This Important Mission Is the Reason Shark Week Is Still Popular Decades Later

Summer may mean the start of school break, family vacations, and backyard BBQs for many, but there's a dedicated group of people for whom summer means something else entirely: Shark Week. Shark Week is the time-honored tradition started by the Discovery Channel several decades ago, when the network dedicates a week to everything shark.

But why is Shark Week a thing?

To find out why the network spends such a large amount of time focusing on the biggest apex predator in the sea, you'll need to understand the importance sharks have in their underwater ecosystem, almost as much as you'll need to learn about the human fascination with the beasts.

Shark Week may be a household name now, but in the summer of 1988, it was still just a pipe dream for the Discovery Channel. The network explained their vision for the event during a 2023 interview with People magazine, telling the publication that it originally was designed to "captivate and educate" the audience.

The network also hoped that the week-long focus on sharks would help undo some of the damage pop culture had done to sharks' reputations.

"I think there's been a lot of mythology about sharks that we have been able to dispel," Discovery Networks president Howard Lee said at the time. "There's a very positive public perception of sharks that I feel we all had a hand in. We nurtured, I would say, a deeper appreciation for these beautiful creatures and their vital role in our ecosystem."

As for that role in our ecosystem, the World Wildlife Fund says that it has a lot to do with carbon.

Sharks eat a lot of the fish that consume the vegetation living in the ocean, preventing overgrazing, which then allows these aquatic plants that absorb carbon to thrive.

Not only that, but the simple act of swimming through the water can also help keep the ocean's ecosystem in check, since sharks move through multiple layers of the water, helping to mix the oxygen-rich waters from the bottom of the ocean with more oxygen-depleted layers towards the surface.

It used to be that you could only catch Shark Week if you tuned into the Discovery Channel during the week it was running. Now, thanks to cross-platform streaming services, there are plenty of ways to watch Shark Week.

In 2025, viewers can tune in through Max, Amazon Prime's premium subscription, Sling TV, Fandango at Home, Apple TV, The Roku Channel, and even YouTube.

While options (and prices) will vary by location and streaming service, there are a plethora of ways for people to spend Shark Week learning more about these amazing creatures that have been patrolling waterways and helping our planet to thrive for more than 450 million years.

Who knows, you may even be able to elevate some of your fears about these prehistoric animals in the process.