White shark cage-diving

Shark-diving tourism is an increasingly popular activity, experiencing fast growth, with ~590,000 people undertaking shark dives in 2012, in over 20 countries worldwide and with estimated values to local economies of up to 18 million. White shark cage-diving is one such industry that began in the late 1970s in Australia and has now developed in five jurisdictions: California, Mexico, South Africa, South Australia, and New Zealand. In Australia, the Neptune Islands Group Marine Park is the only place where white shark cage-diving is possible. The Department for the Environment and Water (DEW) manages and regulates the industry to minimise any potentially detrimental effects on sharks and the marine park’s ecosystem, and ensure the industry’s long-term sustainability. As part of this management, a monitoring program has been developed and is being implemented to record the activity of cage-diving operators in relation to white shark abundance and residency. Members of the public can also contribute to our understanding of white shark abundance and residency by reporting shark sightings. This app enables the public and operators to enter crucial data that will form part of DEW white shark cage-diving industry monitoring program.