Abstract:
Many species of shark are in danger of overexploitation and could possibly be facing
extinction. Sharks have been around for over 400 million years but recent declines that
threaten their existence can be traced back to the current consumptive uses brought on by
humans. If sharks are to be protected, legislation that better regulates their use must be
developed. In order to create this legislation support will first be needed from the general
public. Currently this could prove difficult because many individuals have negative
preconceived notions about sharks, in many cases from the way they are portrayed in the
media. It has been stated that the attitudes and behavior of the public have been shown to
be able to cause changes in environmental policy. So the variables that can cause both
positive attitudes and behaviors towards sharks are important if policies that support their
conservation are to be put into place. Previous studies have found that a person’s
knowledge about a group of species can directly affect their attitude towards them. In this
study it was discovered that knowledge could not only significantly predict a person’s
attitude but also their behavior towards the conservation if sharks. The higher a person’s
knowledge the more positive their attitude was and the more likely they were to behave
in a way that would support conservation measures. However, it was also shown that in
general respondents in the study had a low level of knowledge about sharks. Increasing
knowledge about sharks is therefore very important if legislation protecting sharks is to
be developed. This study showed that variables significantly effecting knowledge
included a person’s gender, where they received their information about sharks, whether
or not they had viewed programs on “Shark Week” on the Discovery channel, if they
were a member of an environmental group, and if they would fear an encounter with
sharks. Understanding of how these variables can increase knowledge about sharks and
subsequently produce more positive attitudes and behaviors could provide policy makers
with the support needed to conserve sharks into the future.
