Shark tourism
Shark tourism is a form of eco-tourism that allows people to dive with sharks in their natural environment. This benefits local shark populations by educating tourists and through funds raised by the shark tourism industry. Communities that previously relied on shark finning to make their livelihoods are able to make a larger profit from diving tours while protecting the local environment. People can get close to the sharks by free- or scuba diving or by entering the water in a protective cage for more aggressive species. Many of these dives are done by private companies and are often baited to ensure shark sightings, a practice which is highly controversial and under review in many areas.
Types of shark
Species commonly targeted in shark tourism activities include:- Great white sharks – mainly surface viewing in cages
- Tiger, bull, oceanic whitetip, and other less aggressive sharks – in the pelagic zone
- Sand tiger sharks – tend to congregate on certain reefs and wrecks at specific times of the year
- Basking and whale sharks – non-aggressive plankton feeders
- Oceanic Black Tip Sharks – known for their sleek and slender build and are potentially aggressive
Great white shark
Great white shark viewing is available at the Neptune Islands in South Australia, South Africa, Isla Guadalupe in Mexico, and New Zealand. Great white sharks are usually viewed using shark cages to protect the diver. Because of the exceptional visibility underwater in Isla Guadalupe, more outside the cage diving is done than anywhere else.The great white shark viewing industry was founded in the 1970s by pioneer Australian diver and great white attack survivor Rodney Fox in South Australia. He was the sole worldwide operator until the South African industry was founded in early 1989 by Pieter van der Walt who was joined shortly thereafter by pioneer diver and underwater photographer George Askew who handled promotions and put South African cage diving "on the map" with the publicity he got – until they split in January 1992, after they, together with famous Australian divers Ron Taylor and Valerie Taylor, did the world's first dive amongst great white sharks without a cage and completely unprotected.
This dive was directly responsible for the upsurge in shark tourism – especially free-diving swimming with big sharks. When operators around the world became aware that the great white was quite approachable and not likely to attack they considered whether the other sharks with bad reputations like tigers, bulls and oceanics' might be safe enough to swim with too. This proved to be the case and shark tourism has become a multi-million-dollar a year industry. In attempts to protect the great white shark species, in some places such as South Australia, there is mandatory logbook reporting and photograph/identification required to monitor how cage-diving tourism may impact white sharks involved in these tourism interactions.
Tiger, bull and oceanic white tip
The Bahamas is a favorite region for pelagic sharks. Divers in the Bahamas experience reef sharks and tiger sharks while they are hand-fed. Isla Guadalupe, Mexico, has been named a Biosphere Reserve in an effort to control the shark diving activities there. Although the practice of shark diving proves to be controversial, it has been proven very effective in attracting tourists. Whale sharks, while not traditionally harvested for their fins but are sometimes harvested for their meat, have also benefited from shark tourism because of snorkelers getting into the water with the gentle giants. In the Philippines snorkelers must maintain a distance of four feet from the sharks and there is a fine and possible jail time for anyone who touches the animals.Several shark species are known from shark feeding dive sites within the Pacific Region. Grey reef sharks are the main feeders in places such as the Great Barrier Reef, Micronesia and Tahiti. Silvertips and black tip reef sharks tend to be more seen around the Papua New Guinea coastlines. Bull sharks are found around Mexico, Playa del Carmen in particular.
Whale shark
Whale sharks attract a large amount of tourists each year to South Ari Atoll in the Republic of Maldives, yet, there is still some ambiguity regarding the economic extent of the attraction of these animals. Thus, making conservation/ implementation of management methods difficult to conduct.Additionally, whale sharks in the waters of the small town of Oslob, on Cebu islands in the Philippines, The sharks have become a top tourist attraction, local governments in the Philippines have followed along in the legalization of feeding these animals in attempt to attract more tourists. Although a huge commercial success, there is growing concern for the implementation of regulation and protection for the whale sharks and its marine environment.
The coral reefs in the Philippines are being harmed greatly by the overpopulation of sharks and people in the area. As the population increases immensely so does the opportunity for the coral reefs to diminish. Sharks are overpopulating because they are being fed by tour operators and it is attracting many more sharks to the area than there naturally would be. This is causing the sharks to be more aggressive with people because they are getting too comfortable with people because they are associating feeding time with the people that are tossing the food to them.
Diving mode
Freediving
This type of shark tourism is done by professionals who dive down with the individuals that are partaking in the tourism event. A diver takes a small group of people down approximately 40 meters deep where the shark actions takes place. Often sharks do not pay much attention to the divers, but in rare cases when there are threatening times the operator uses his/her training skills to prevent an attack from occurring.Cage diving
Shark cage diving is scuba diving or snorkeling where the observer remains inside a protective cage designed to prevent sharks from making contact with the divers. Shark cage diving is used for scientific observation, underwater cinematography, and as a tourist activity. Sharks may be attracted to the vicinity of the cage by the use of bait, in a procedure known as chumming, which has attracted some controversy as it is claimed to potentially alter the natural behaviour of sharks in the vicinity of swimmers.Similar cages are also used purely as a protective measure for divers working in waters where potentially dangerous shark species are known to be present. In this application the shark-proof cage may be used as a refuge, or as a diving stage during descent and ascent, particularly during staged decompression where the divers may be vulnerable while constrained to a specific depth in mid-water for several minutes. In other applications a mobile cage may be carried by the diver while harvesting organisms such as abalone.
Economic valuation of whale shark tourism
Previous economic valuation of whale shark tourism.Valuations reported in other currencies were converted to US$ using the average official rate for the year of 2007.
| Location | Year | Total expenditure | Expenditure on WS excursions | Method | Reference |
| Belize | 2002 | $3.7 | – | Direct spend | Graham |
| Seychelles | 2003 | – | $1.2 | Contingent | Cesar et al. |
| 2007 | $3.9–5.0 | – | Direct spend | H Newman et al., 2007, unpublished dataa | |
| Ningaloo | 1994 | $4.7 | $1.0 | Direct spend | Davis et al. |
| 2004 | $13.3 | – | Unknown | Norman | |
| 2006 | $4.5 | $2.3 | Direct spend | Catlin et al. | |
| 2006 | $1.8–3.5 | – | Substitution value | Catlin et al. |
Whale sharks are considered a vulnerable species, and in certain areas such as Ningaloo Marine Park, they are entirely protected. The whale sharks in the area are considered highly valuable in the ecotourism industry, as the industry provides numerous jobs to local people and brings in US$12 million annually. Tourist interest in wildlife tourism continues to grow, and the whale shark tourism industry is expected to increase through the year 2020.