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Articles on Great white sharks

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Blue sharks, which are prized for their fins, swimming off Cape Point in South Africa. Morne Hardenberg

South Africa’s plan to protect sharks needs an urgent update

Sharks grow slowly and produce few young compared to bony fishes. In many cases, this means that their populations are fished out faster than can be replenished if not well managed.
The CSIRO has provided new estimates of population sizes for White Sharks in Australian waters. Fiona Ayerst/Shutterstock

FactFile: the facts on shark bites and shark numbers

How many shark encounters have there been at your local beach? Explore our interactive map to see 20 years of incidents between humans and sharks in coastal waters around Australia.
White sharks’ ability to stay warm in cold water makes them efficient long-range hunters. Denice Askebrink

Why do shark bites seem to be more deadly in Australia than elsewhere?

Fatal shark bites are very rare. But the stats do suggest that the likelihood of an attack proving fatal is higher in Australia - probably because our waters are home to the “big three” dangerous species.
A shark’s nose is chemosensory only, and it doesn’t join up to the back of the throat like ours does. Flickr/Leszek Leszczynski

Curious Kids: Do sharks sneeze?

Sharks can’t sneeze like we do, but they can do other cool tricks – like making their stomach stick out of their mouth to get rid of unwanted stuff.
Helicopters hover over Bondi Beach after spotting a shark. AAP Image/NEWZULU/TOM CASKA

How drones can help fight the war on shark attacks

LIfeguards could potentially have a new ally in the fight to reduce shark incidents: drones that can spot when a shark swims nearby, and automatically alert authorities.
Shelly Beach near Ballina, one of the new shark net locations, was the scene of a fatal shark attack in February 2015. Dave Hunt/AAP

Not just nets: how to stop shark attacks without killing sharks

Shark nets are controversial, which is why the New South Wales government is investigating a host of other ways to keep humans and sharks apart – some more tried and tested than others.
Loving our monsters? We’ll learn more by researching sharks than by kiling them. ScreenWest/AAP

Relax, shark numbers aren’t booming, but more research can make us safer

The best way to guard against shark attacks is to study them, not kill them. Because while the alleged “shark boom” almost certainly not real, the more we know about sharks, the better.

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