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Protection of white sharks and the outlawing of trade in
their body-products is afforded by statute Fisheries
legislation in South Africa (since April, 1991), similarly by
State measures within the jurisdiction of California (State
Assembly Bill AB 522), off Florida, the State of Tasmania,
South Australia, New South Wales and Western
Australia. Directed captures of these sharks off the
entire eastern USA is now prohibited by legislation enacted in
early 1997.
In some areas (South Australia and South Africa; and more
recently California) the white shark has been identified as a
lucrative source of largely unregulated and unlicensed
diving-adventure trips, photographic commerce or plain
ecotourism, rather analogous to whale-watching. Where
properly controlled and licensed as in South Australia, such
passive exploitation - although not without its own unique
pitfalls or controversy - can help foster public concern for
the welfare of these sharks whilst allowing limited human
contact outside the realm of public aquaria, where all
attempts to display captive white sharks have failed to-date
(and perhaps will always do so). Existing (and proposed)
unilateral legislation serves not only to protect the welfare
of free-swimming white sharks but moreover to outlaw the trade
in their products. It thus remains imperative that
existing legislation remains diligently enforced and
monitored.
The Shark Trust, alongside the World Conservation Union
(IUCN) and other conservation bodies, believes that ultimately
the white sharks future can only be secured through global
legislation. Seeking a listing within the remits of
CITES protection is considered imperative. After all, the
vulnerability of white sharks to curio-hunting is poignantly
comparable to previous exploitation of large terrestrial
predators such as tigers for trophies, furs and so-on.
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