Understanding the public perception of sharks

The image of sharks as obtuse ferocious predators of the oceans has been well shaped throughout human history by various myths, stories and contemporary movies. Nowadays, almost one third of the shark species are threatened... [ view full abstract ]

The image of sharks as obtuse ferocious predators of the oceans has been well shaped throughout human history by various myths, stories and contemporary movies. Nowadays, almost one third of the shark species are threatened due to human-based activities. Thus,there is an increasing need for conservation measures able to effectively preserve the threatened populations. Public perception towards wildlife is a key factor for the implementation of conservation planning, since the public can direct management priorities through its support and engagement. Our study aims at understanding the public perception towards sharks at a global scale, unravel potential factors and drivers shaping public opinion and highlighting paradigms. For this, an online questionnaire was used, consisting of three parts. The first part collects demographic and general information; the second part is a closed formed Likert scale matrix investigating the attitude, based on the attitudinal scale of Kellert (1985); the third part evaluates the knowledge of the responder on sharks. The questionnaire is translated in 19 languages and, in 16 months, got more than 13,000 answers from over 130 countries. Our results reveal interesting facts about the public attitude towards sharks and the relation between attitudes, knowledge and preferences with cultural and demographic parameters.