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.
Choosing to swim or surf at a beach with shark spotters or lifeguards may save you a limb or your life.
Glencairn Leigh de Necker
Alison Kock, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity
Despite low shark attack numbers, many people are afraid of being bitten. There are, however, ways to steer clear of these creatures.
Great white sharks in South Africa have extremely low genetic diversity compared with shark populations elsewhere in the world.
Sara Andreotti/www.sharkdivingunlimited.com
More research may not necessarily prove to be the answer to shark attacks. Instead, we should look at programs that are already working, such as aerial patrols.
A greynurse shark complete with a tracking device - scientifically the best way to keep tabs on what sharks are up to.
AAP Image/NSW Ministery for Agriculture and Fisheries
Calls are growing louder for a shark cull in New South Wales. But like in Western Australia, which infamously experimented with culling last year, a NSW cull would harm sharks while failing to protect people.
Where there are groups of seals, there are sharks.
Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environment
A rash of white shark attacks this summer points to a rebounding population in the US – a sign of healthier oceans and the need to coexist with this apex predator.
The moment a shark encounters Australian champion surfer Mick Fanning.
AAP Image/World Surf League, Kirstin Scholtz
Although frightening, the footage of Mick Fanning at Jeffreys Bay is a reminder that sharks are present in the oceans, and that the vast majority of interactions between people and sharks end without fatality or injury.
Western Australia has killed two great white sharks after a surfer was seriously injured last week.
Sharkdiver.com/Wikimedia Commons
When I used to tell people that I did my PhD on the politics of shark attacks, they would ask, “Is there a politics to shark attacks?” Nobody asks that any more. Now they just say, “Oh, like in Western…
The shark cull that ran for three months off Perth and the Southwest now looks certain to be ended.
AAP Image/Sea Shepherd
Western Australia’s controversial shark drum line policy will come to an end, after the state’s Environmental Protection Agency recommended that it not be continued this summer. WA EPA chairman Paul Vogel…
A 2.6 m tiger shark entangled in a WA drum line. It was officially released alive - whether it survived is another matter.
Neil Henderson/supplied
As Western Australia’s Environmental Protection Authority and the federal environment minister Greg Hunt mull the question of whether to let the state government resume its controversial shark cull next…
The WA government has caught 172 sharks since installing drum lines - but not a single great white.
AAP IMAGE/ SEA SHEPHERD
Perhaps predictably, the Western Australian government has claimed that its shark drum line season, which ended last week, was a success. In a media statement, fisheries minister Ken Baston said that “172…
Wave of protest: surfers were among thousands who rallied at Cottesloe Beach against the Barnett government’s shark cull.
AAP Image/Theron Kirkman
The end of April marks the end of Western Australia’s shark cull – for now at least. Since January 25, dozens of sharks (the WA government has not yet released official figures) have been killed off popular…
Western Australia’s shark kills follow decades of similar policy in Queensland.
AAP Image/Sea Shepherd
One of the most common justifications for Western Australia’s shark cull is the longstanding use of baited hooks - or drum lines - in regions such as Queensland. Two key questions need answering. First…
On the hook: the WA government is targeting white sharks.
Flickr/kqedquest
An unprecedented cluster of white shark bite fatalities in Western Australia over the past decade has led the state government to enact a policy of culling large sharks in coastal waters off Perth and…
When it comes to sharks, it’s important we know size and species.
Scubaben/Flickr
Dozens of sharks have reportedly been caught since Western Australia’s “catch-and-kill” drum line program began two weeks ago. Firm numbers are not available given the WA government’s unwillingness to…
Right on cue with gaping jaw and rows of teeth.
Loren Javier
Each summer, for several years in a row, a tabloid would send me a picture of a shark fin photographed off Cornwall and ask if it was a Great White. “No,” I would patiently explain, “it is a harmless basking…
Marine Biologist, South African National Parks (SANParks); Honorary Research Associate, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity