Like many other super-predators, the great white shark is misunderstood. Various factors have contributed to its declining numbers: negative public attitudes towards sharks (a legacy of the film Jaws), trophy hunting, fishing and collisions with shipping vessels.
The World Conservation Union, which operates the ‘red list’ of endangered species, describes great white sharks as ‘vulnerable’, but it has no official estimate of the global population. Their nomadic nature makes population estimates notoriously difficult, as some sharks cover distances of over 20,000 km per year. A recent survey suggests that numbers of great whites have fallen below 3,500, which is lower than the number of tigers believed to be left in the wild.
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