Shark Bites and Shark Conservation: An Analysis of Human Attitudes Following Shark Bite Incidents in Two Locations in Australia

This article reports on the first comparative surveys in two separate locations to measure public attitudes toward sharks following shark bite incidents. This study focuses directly on the communities affected by the shark bites, both in Australiathe town of Ballina in the State of New South Wales (N = 500) and the city of Perth in Western Australia (N = 600)and reports on their attitudes and policy preferences relating to sharks immediately after serious shark bite incidents in 2015 and 2016. In both communities we find that a large majority of respondents prefer nonlethal policies; most respondents believe shark bite incidents to be accidental rather than intentional; while fear of sharks correlates with support for lethal policies, this association is powerfully mediated by perceptions of intentionality. These findings have implications for international wildlife management, particularly regarding predator species in need of conservation. Conservation is based on the public acceptability of a species and if intentionality can mediate fear effects and promote policies that protect the species this is a step forward for conservation management globally.