Attitudes and misconceptions towards sharks and shark meat consumption along the Peruvian coast

Abstract

Misconceptions, lack of knowledge, and negative attitudes towards sharks act as barriers preventing actions required to tackle threats to shark populations, limiting the success of global shark conservation initiatives. Peru, a major player for the international trade of shark products, recently approved the ‘National Action Plan for the Conservation and Management of Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras’ (PAN-Tib); a guiding document for conservation initiatives aimed at these fishes. Within PAN-Tib, the assessment of Peruvians’ current knowledge and attitudes towards sharks is listed as a research priority. Between June and October 2016, 2004 Peruvians were surveyed along the coast to characterize their (i) shark meat consumption patterns, and (ii) knowledge and attitudes towards sharks. Results suggest that shark meat consumption is extended, but not necessarily frequent, and higher in the northern regions of the country. However, 77.5% of shark meat consumers were unaware that they had eaten sharks. Although 57.6% of the participants recognized that sharks are present in Peruvian waters, only 19.4% of the surveyed population was capable of naming at least one local shark species. Moreover, Peruvians have very negative attitudes towards sharks. They fear them and view them as man-eaters, despite this, no shark attacks have ever been reported in the country. These results highlight the need to: (i) encourage sustainable shark meat consumption, and (ii) promote communication campaigns aimed at increasing knowledge about sharks, and their importance as a source of employment and food for coastal communities, as for the national economy.

Increased knowledge affects public attitude and perception towards elasmobranchs and support for conservation

“…This is a clear indicator that legislation and policy is not a major factor that could affect and shape people's knowledge and attitude towards biodiversity and conservation. The results also showed that gender, age and level of education do not affect elasmobranch-related knowledge and attitude which is contrary to some other studies (O'Bryhim & Parsons, 2015;Tsoi et al, 2016;Lama et al, 2018;Alfonso et al, 2021). Marine-related education and marine-related activities were the strongest predictors of a participant's knowledge and attitude towards elasmobranchs.…”

Does Lack of Knowledge Lead to Misperceptions? Disentangling the Factors Modulating Public Knowledge About and Perceptions Toward Sharks

“…Also, education level had little contribution to perception improvement among people with positive prejudice because this group generally exhibited good knowledge and positive perceptions toward sharks. These trends sustain the leverage of the emotional component on the regulation of human attitudes toward sharks (Tsoi et al, 2016;Lama et al, 2018) and suggest that considerable improvements in perceptions could be achieved by resolving the prevalence of unjustified feelings and prejudice resulting from societal misconceptions about these species. Augmenting the specific FIGURE 4 | Effects of the interaction of education level (i.e., elementary, high, and superior education) with specific knowledge about sharks (i.e., low, medium, and high) on the variability in perceptions toward sharks, assessed with a Likert-based ordered logistic regression model.…”

“…A most relevant relationship between education level, knowledge about and perceptions toward sharks was evidenced in this study, with increased education and knowledge generally benefiting more positive perceptions. Previous research also associated higher education level with greater knowledge about sharks and more positive perceptions and attitudes toward these species (Thompson and Mintzes, 2002;O'Bryhim and Parsons, 2015;Tsoi et al, 2016;Lama et al, 2018). Misperceptions may derive from a lack of acquaintance with and understanding about sharks, rendering people susceptible to misinformation (Muter et al, 2012;Myrick and Evans, 2014).…”

“…Garla et al (2015) also reported FEN tourists to have greater knowledge of and more positive attitudes toward sharks than FEN residents, but the opposite trend was observed in the Galapagos Archipelago (Acuña-Marrero et al, 2018) where shark peril is not an issue. Although people's attitudes regarding shark hazard could currently be less focused on human welfare and more on wildlife (Neff and Yang, 2013;Pepin-Neff and Wynter, 2018b), shark bite incidents may still generate considerable commotion and deteriorate public perceptions toward the putative menace posed by these predators (Pepin- Neff and Wynter, 2018a), even in countries with no records of such incidents (Lama et al, 2018). Furthermore, since sharks do not elicit fright responses in young FIGURE 2 | Effects of the interaction of sampling treatment (i.e., Recife -REC, tourists of Fernando de Noronha -FENtour, and residents at Fernando de Noronha -FENres) with specific knowledge about sharks (i.e., low, medium, and high) on the variability in knowledge about sharks, assessed with a Likert-based ordered logistic regression model.…”

Drawing on local knowledge and attitudes for the conservation of critically endangered rhino rays in Goa, India

“…Attitudes, which refer to an individual's evaluation of a person, concept, entity or action, can help predict human behaviour and determine participation in conservation activities (Ajzen, 1991; Solomon et al, 2012; Sponarski et al, 2014). The attitudes of fishers and the general public towards sharks present both challenges and opportunities for effective shark conservation (Ali et al, 2020; Drymon & Scyphers, 2017; Glaus et al, 2018; López de la Lama et al, 2018). Fishers also tend to perceive marine species holistically and as groups, rather than individual species (Karnad, 2022).…”