5. PERCEPTIONS AND MANAGEMENT OF SHARKS
5.3. Human perception of sharks
A study conducted in Australia in the 1970s inves tiga ted which word had the largest impact on the highestnumber ofpeopl e.Word s such as rape,death, murder,poison ,love and sex were used. However , it was the word shark that resul ted in most emotions (Taylor, 1986). Shark s are the perfect crea ture for medi a sensa tiona lis m. Scary, mysteri ou s pred ator s with shar p teeth and known for attac king humans when they least expec t it (Maninguet, 2003). The most fam ous shark, the Great White Shark , has had
man ydifferent namesin South Africa, from Blue Poin ter toWhite Death (Hase lau, 1971 ) and the Zambezi shar k was also often describ ed as a brute, a man- eater and man-killer (Con do n, 1971 ).
The Great White Shark is the most famou s shar kspecies, much due to its leadin g role in the "Jaws" movies (based on Peter Benchley' s novel from 19 84). In reality,the maj ority of sharks are muc h sma ller, complete ly harml ess and some have plates as opposed to teeth for bottom feed ing. The possibilities of bein g attac ked by a sha rk are often compared tothe much higher statistica lrisksofbein g ina caraccidentor hurtin g yourse lf by slipping onyourown bathr oomfloor. Otherexamples often used are that you are more likel y to be struc k by ligh tn ing, get killed by bees or win the lott ery than bein g attac ked by a shark(Ellis, 2003). But,these statistics might not reall y matt er to man ypeopl e.The fact is that people are still afra id of sharks and the thought of getting attac ked, bitten and maybe eaten by ananima lstro nge r, bigger and moredangerous than any man isterri fying for most people . But, does this fact give us the right to kill and over-fis h shar ks to near extinc tio n? Follo wing the famous "Jaws" movies man y fishermen went out to kill as many sha rksas they could (Ellis, 2003)."The onlygood shark is adead one" became an unwritten rule(Taylor, 1986) .Therehave been man y competitio ns where the goalwas to catch the most and the biggest shar ks. Even tho ugh most of these compet itio ns have ended, shark fishin g (mainly for the purpose of shark fins and as unwanted unregistered by-catch) is stillongo ing, actually increasin g altho ugh the generalsha rkstock is claimed by scientists to bedecreasin g (Ellis, 2003).
Killing shar ks used to be a popul ar sport of male divers and spearfishermen in South Africa.The Natal South Coast was popul ar among spearfishers,butmainl yduring winter due to low visibility from river runoff in summer (Codon, 1971). The Ragged Tooth Sharks, or Grey Nurse Sharks as they are called in Austra lia, used to be very popular among the spear fisherm en in the New Sou th Wales waters . This species of shark has a fierce appea rance, but is relati vely harmless, dociIe and not aggress ive compared to other big shar ks. Unfortun ately man y shar k attacks have been wrong ly attributed to this
species, and killing them was conside red bra ve and courageo us (Ellis, 2003;
Common wealth of Australia, 2005).
Austra lia has two population s of Gre y Nurse Shark s, one on the Eastern coast as mentioned and ano ther on the Western coast. Due to intensive spea rfishing the Eastern population is nearl y extinc t and listed as critica lly enda nge red and was decl ared a prot ected spec ies bythe New Sou thWales Governmen t in 1984 ,the first prot ected shar k in the world (Ellis, 2003). It is an example of how fragile sha rk population are to locali sed over-fishing . The West coast populat ion is listed as vulnerable under the Austra lian Enviro nment Protecti on and Biodiver sit yCon ser vation Act 1999.Grey Nurse Sharks are pop ular amongs t diver s. Austra lian authorities ha ve in cons ultatio n with the dive ind ust rycreated aCod e ofConduct for divin g with GreyNurseSharks .TheCode of Conduct states thatthedivers mustno t (CoA,2005):
• cond uct nightdives on known aggregat ionsites
• block entra nces to caves or gutters
• interruptthe swimming patt ern ofthe sha rks
• feedor touc h the shar kschaseor harass the sha rks
• inter fere with the sha rks usingmech anical apparatussuch as scooters, horn s
• use Shark Pod/Shark Shield De vicesin kno wn aggregationsites
• dive ingro ups tot alin g morethan 10 divers Thedive opera tors are recommended to:
• implem enttheCod e ofConduct
• giveadivebriefispresented bythe dive lead erbefore each dive
• displ ay theCod e ofConduct in operato rs boats and shops
• parti cip atein scientific research
It is illegal to harm, buy, sellor possess any enda nge red spec ies (CoA, 2005).The Grey Nurse Sha rk protecti on in Austra lia is an exampleof how increased knowled ge ofa sha rk species has lead to the reali zati on of how vulnerable they are to human impact and the need forecologica llysustai na ble man agem ent inorder forthe shar ks to survive.
The general per cepti on of sha rks has cha nged somew ha tover the past couple ofdecades.
An examp le is the cha nges in practice by the Nata l Shar ks Board . Previou sly all the netted potenti ally dan gerou s sha rks were killed , but they are now all released if found
ali ve (C liff & Dudley , 1992).The general percepti on of sharks might still be dominated by fear, but more and more peopl e also see m to be fascin ated by them. Shark s are apex predators with a unique and essential role in the marin e ecosystem. Nature programs about sharks on TV, books and magazin e articles abo ut sharks assist in creating a different vie w on sharks and one towards conser vation (even though sen sati onali sm is still very much present).Sharks are beginning to appear on endangered species lists and enviro nmental non-governmental org anisatio ns (NGOs) such as the World Wildlife Foundation support research and studies onshar ks. Additionallythere are severalsma ller nati on al or regi on al NGOs focu sin g on sharks and conserv ation in addition to raisin g public awa re ness abo utsharks(Gribbleetal., 1998).