South-west New Providence will feature heavily in a Shark Week episode set to be screened during the second week in July, reaching potentially up to 88m homes in 224 countries.

Producers, film makers and support crew fanned out across the waters off New Providence’s coast for an episode that will feature local divers and marine scientists such as Dr Austin Gallagher (Beneath the Waves). It will air on the Discovery Channel on July 13.

Titled The Science of Sound, it explores sharks’ reactions to the sound of music - country music, in particular - thanks to the picking, plunking, playing and familiar voice of country superstar Brad Paisley. He played live on the dive boat, with his recordings lowered by divers through underwater sonar equipment and moved with them as they swam and interacted with dozens of curious nurse and reef sharks.

A diver himself, the singer-songwriter spent two days experiencing the deep with Bahamian divers such as Kareem Bethell and Tyson Smith. Stuart Cove Dive provided vessels and dive gear. The aim was to shoot 100 percent of the episode, all 43 minutes, 20 seconds of non-advertising footage, off New Providence and the film crew achieved 98 percent of their goal.

“It’s a great place to shoot,” a producer said. “It’s safe, it’s easy to get to - not like some of the places we have to do that, which are far out from land over fairly treacherous seas - and celebrities love it here.”

“We have been working with Shark Week every year since the first episode was filmed in The Bahamas in 1988. And every year I think what can Discovery Channel do to top this, and the next year they come up with something even more interesting or scientifically important,” said Stuart Cove, who founded and operates the country’s largest dive business. This year his son, Travis, a diver-turned-actor, doubled for another in the show.

Mr Cove, a director of Save The Bays and active in coral reef preservation, believes Shark Week has helped sensitise the public to the value of sharks. “Jaws made us afraid, Shark Week makes us understand. Presenting the real true story of the value of sharks helps us appreciate the important role they play in the marine eco-system,” he added.

Dr Gallagher agreed, saying: “Marine scientists, including myself, give The Bahamas great credit for the country’s shark sanctuary legislation. Dr Gallagher, who has been exploring and documenting marine resources in The Bahamas for more than a decade, said there is no body of water comparable to it.

A proponent of naming the waters the Lucayan Sea, he cites the statistic that an individual is more likely to be struck by lightning twice than to be bitten by a shark. “Research, which we have helped contribute to, demonstrates that tragically, unlike The Bahamas, there are countries where greed and avarice create a shark fin trade that claims fins from up to 73m sharks a year,” said Dr Gallagher.

“And while The Bahamas is protecting sharks and, as you can see, the population out here today is healthy and active and non-threatening, sharks in many places elsewhere continue to be threatened and that is heart-breaking for anyone who studies their role in the marine ecosystem.”

A Discovery Channel press release on Shark Week says a study published in Nature magazine earlier this year found that oceanic sharks and rays have declined by at least 71 percent since 1970.

Shark Week, Discovery Channel’s most popular programme, runs from Sunday, July 11, through Sunday, July 18, with The Bahamas’ episode on the third night, Tuesday. Discovery Channel dubs its 2021 shows a ‘jawesome line-up’ beginning with a documentary series and includes, in addition to Brad Paisley, William Shatner, JB Smoove, Tiffany Haddish and others, celebrities diving alongside marine biologists and representatives from respected science institutes such as Beneath the Waves and Oceana.