Stakeholder perception of the danger posed by sharks in the world’s largest shark sanctuary
Résumé
Shark conservation can be achieved through a combination of spatial protections, traditional fisheries regulations,
and shark-based tourism development. The effectiveness of these approaches depends on stakeholder
perception of the animals, and on the personal impacts legislation will have. We assessed stakeholder attitudes
towards sharks in the French Polynesia sanctuary using the perception of (i) the risk that sharks pose to humans
and (ii) the practice of shark feeding to support ecotourism. Despite few bites locally, about 50% of the people
believed that sharks are potentially dangerous. Furthermore, 74% of people held a negative opinion about
provisioning as potentially increasing the risk of bites or having negative effects on sharks. When crossed with
the lack of compliance with the regulations of the sanctuary and the feeding, these results suggest the importance
of local political decision-making to better integrate validated scientific data. These results could improve shark
conservation and support for current efforts.