Wildlife Australia - Spring 2017

tours of 2–10 days. Tours operate 260 days per year, a regulatory

measure (weather permitting), with participants boarding cage-

dive vessels from the Port Lincoln Marina. Once at the Neptune

Islands, tourists can view sharks from the deck of a vessel,

from a custom-built submerged cage, or in some cases from a

submersible viewing platform.

Over the past three years, I have had the opportunity to

spend more than 70 days at the Neptune Islands to investigate

the white shark cage-dive participant experience. While the

opportunity to be in the water with white sharks has been

magnificent, witnessing people of all ages and nationalities

interact with these enormous marine predators has been

an absolute privilege. Energy, excitement, amazement, awe,

fascination – people’s expressions and smiles as they exit the

cage are a genuine endorsement for the experience. So, what

motivated these tourists to venture into a cage and come face-

to-face with a creature that has more than 300 razor-sharp

teeth and a reputation for ferocity? And has the experience

changed their attitude towards sharks and their conservation? By

surveying, observing, and interviewing participants, that is what I

hoped to discover.

‘Wild’ times

The first phase of my research was to investigate the beliefs

underlying tourists’ decisions to cage-dive. Analysing qualitative

responses revealed that the decision to cage-dive was driven

by education – primarily wanting to know more about the

species – and the unique opportunity to observe white sharks

in their natural habitat. Some comments suggested cage-diving

presented ‘one of the only opportunities to see them in the wild’,

or ‘the chance to see an apex predator in the wild’ or to see ‘how

they live [and] act together’. If conservation benefits generally

result from education, interpretation, and exposing tourists to

wildlife in its natural habitat, what do cage divers want to learn?

That question guided the second phase of my research.

Using on-board surveys, I collected a combination of

qualitative and quantitative data from more than 600 cage-

dive participants. Responses to the question of whether they

wanted to learn more about white sharks while on tour were

almost unanimously ‘yes’. Most of those sampled agreed that

increasing their knowledge was important and stated that

while on holidays they enjoyed learning about wildlife. Overall,

the majority agreed that discovering more about white shark

ecology was a motivating factor in choosing their tour. Many

participants wanted to learn more about the threats to sharks,

the habits of sharks, and shark biology – results that align

with studies conducted on tourists of other marine wildlife

experiences. Clearly, cage-dive participants expect interpretive

communication and want to learn more about the marine

environment in general. An understanding of how they want that

information delivered is important too, as it helps operators

facilitate customer demand. When asked how they would prefer

information to be relayed, responses showed an overwhelming

support for a tour guide, as opposed to audio-visual materials,

displays or signs.

Helping rejuvenate regional Australia

It’s all very well for tourists to admit a greater affinity for sharks

during or immediately after the experience, but what happens

after the tour, once they return home? Can cage-diving make

them care about white sharks over the longer term? To find out,

a follow-up survey was emailed to phase-one and phase-two

respondents once they had returned to their everyday lives.

Analysis of survey responses revealed that most participants

did experience an increased interest in sharks and their

conservation. More than 80% of the sample agreed they felt

more strongly about shark conservation issues, that shark

conservation was more meaningful to them, and that they found

themselves more concerned about the welfare of sharks following

the experience. Increased conservation participation was also

detected for the majority of respondents. Participants admitted

to speaking more positively about sharks to others and on

social media, and to following shark conservation organisations

on social media. Further analysis of responses revealed that

respondents were more likely to report an increase in their

attitudes towards shark conservation if they gained knowledge

and felt an emotional engagement while on tour. As well as

helping cultivate positive attitudes to sharks, cage-diving has a

positive impact on the regional community of Port Lincoln. Most

of the tourists who participated in dives stayed in Port Lincoln

for two or three nights, with 97% indicating the cage-dive tour

was the primary motivation for visiting. Of those participants

not from South Australia, 68% reported that the cage-dive tour

was their main reason for visiting the state. Being motivated to

visit an area based purely on a wildlife experience highlights the

regional importance of cage-diving as a socio-economic activity.

In addition to profits generated, revenue from related tourism

activities benefits other sectors, such as hospitality, and provides

a financial injection to the local economy.

Facts travel far

My findings indicated that kindling a conservation ethic among

participants was the likely result of combining the emotional

benefit of seeing unique wildlife with the educational benefits

of learning new facts.

Shark teeth continually fall out and are

replenished, so a white shark may lose

and regrow thousands of teeth over the

course of its life.

FAST FACTS

Tour guides are in the unique position

of being able to address misconceptions

and dispel myths, increase awareness,

and potentially influence pro-

conservation attitudes and behaviour.

White sharks’ movements are hard to predict. They
may travel hundreds or thousands of kilometres at a
continual pace of 3 km/h, only to then remain in one
area for days, weeks or months. Photo: Elias Levy

8 | Wildlife Australia | SPRING 2017