Effects of wildlife tourism on white shark associative behaviour

While wildlife tourism may impact the animals it targets, it plays a critical role in public education and conservation awareness. Understanding changes in animal behaviour in response to tourism activities can inform the trade-offs between negative impacts and socioeconomic benefits. There are public claims that cage-diving activities may condition white sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, to interact with boats, and may potentially increasing risk of shark bites. We tracked the fine-scale movements of 73 white sharks in relation to cage-diving boats using acoustic telemetry between 2018 and 2022 at Neptune Islands, Australia, to investigate associative behaviour and factors potentially influencing residency and time spent in proximity to the cage-diving boats. White sharks spent gradually less time near cage-diving boats throughout their residency at the tourism site. This behaviour was consistent across individuals, years, sexes and sizes. Sharks, however, resumed their natural behaviours (i.e. initial amount of time near the cage-diving boats) each time they returned to Neptune Islands, suggesting that the observed habituation (i.e. loss of response to the stimulus used to attract sharks) did not last for long periods. These trends support the lack of long-term learnt behaviour of white sharks increasingly interacting with boats. Our results indicate that current management strategies such as regulating the number of days the industry can operate at the site and the amount of food-based attractant used, and reducing the amount of bait consumed can limit associative behaviour between white sharks and boats, while enabling continued opportunities for white shark tourism. Understanding how wildlife associate with humans can help ensure that best practices are in place for both the targeted animals and the people involved, particularly in the case of threatened and potentially dangerous species.