Understanding the public attitude towards sharks for improving their conservation

Giovos, Ioannis; Barash, Adi; Barone, Monica; Barría, Claudio; Borme, Diego; Brigaudeau, Cecile; Charitou, Anastasia; Brito, Cristina; Currie, Jock C.; Endrizzi, Lara; Forsberg, Kerstin; Jung, Armelle; Kleitou, Periklis; MacDiarmid, Alison; Moutopoulos, Dimitrios Κ.; Nakagun, Shotaro; Neves, João; Nunes, Flávia L. D.; Schröder, Dorien; Thurstan, Ruth H.; Tull, Malcolm; Tunçer, Sezginer; Mazzoldi, Carlotta

doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2021.104811

Cited by 27 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…NGOs often target the public to increase the level of awareness and generate support for conservation efforts through campaigns and the involvement of local people [39,[50][51][52]. Without public support, policies will face difficulties in being successful and measures may face opposition [53,54].…”

Section: Ngo Roles In the Policy Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

Policy making for sharks and the role and contribution of non-governmental organisations in the fulfilment of international legal obligations

Koehler

Lowther

2022

Marine Policy

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Section: Ngo Roles In the Policy Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

Policy making for sharks and the role and contribution of non-governmental organisations in the fulfilment of international legal obligations

Koehler

Lowther

2022

Marine Policy

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“…However, building the requisite support for shark conservation requires helping the public overcome fear of sharks and misconceptions about them (Acuña-Marrero et al, 2018;Lucrezi et al, 2019). Although attitudes toward sharks worldwide tend to be positive, fear of sharks is persistent, even in nations where attitudes are generally positive (Giovos et al, 2021). Higher risk perception of sharks predicts support for killing sharks and less concern about negative portrayals of sharks in the media (Lucrezi et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of social media on fear of sharks, perceptions of intentionality associated with shark bites, and shark management preferences

Casola

Beall²,

Peterson³

et al. 2022

Front. Commun.

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Sharks, a critical component of marine ecosystems, represent one of the most threatened taxa globally. Shark conservation efforts are constrained by public fear and misperceptions. Positive social media-based outreach may provide one cost effective means to reduce fear of sharks and change misperceptions about shark bite intentionality. Using framing theory, which suggests that the ways in which information is presented influences how it is processed and the changes in perceptions that result from it, we experimentally evaluated impacts of positively and negatively framed YouTube videos on fear of sharks and perceptions of shark bite intentionality among participants from the coastal state of North Carolina (NC), USA in Spring 2020. Respondents took a pre-test, followed by a randomly assigned positive or negative video treatment consisting of ~15 min of shark week videos. Pre/post-test comparisons suggest positive YouTube content decreased fright by 24%, perceived danger by 27%, and perception of shark bite intentionality by 29%, whereas negatively framed media did the opposite. Positively framed media resulted in fewer respondents blaming shark bites on sharks, and resulted in more respondents blaming swimmers or no one. Positively framed media decreased support for lethal responses to shark bites, such as shark nets, hunting down sharks that bite people, and drum lines. The positive treatment increased support for responding with research, leaving the shark alone, and education. Negatively framed media decreased support for responding by leaving the shark alone or doing nothing and increased support for some lethal responses to shark bites (i.e., drum lines and hunting down sharks). When positive and negative treatments had different effect sizes, the positive treatments tended to be more impactful. Collectively these results suggest social media may be a valuable tool for leveraging the power of communication to promote shark conservation.

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“…Ιn recent years, public perception of sharks has changed positively, with increased public concern for the conservation of sharks (Bargnesi et al, 2020;Le Busque et al, 2021;Giovos et al, 2021). This shift of attitude may be linked to increased public knowledge about sharks (Friedrich et al, 2014;O'Bryhim & Parsons, 2015), possibly through social media, documentaries, and ecotourism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cebrián-Piqueras et al, (2020 have shown that nature-related activities and education could play a crucial role in obtaining a deeper understanding of local natural environments. Positive public and stakeholder attitude towards sharks is important to guide decision-making, and conservation and management actions (Simpfendorfer et al, 2011;Ward-Paige et al, 2012), as communities tend to want to protect animals and environments that they are knowledgeable about (Giovos et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Identification of specific knowledge gaps among different demographic groups will help to understand where knowledge deficits occur and identify where particular communities would benefit from further education (O'Bryhim & Parsons, 2015). Particularly relevant are those in coastal communities where the likelihood of shark interactions or activities reliant on sharks is more common Lucrezi et al, 2019;Giovos et al, 2021). If specific knowledge gaps lead to a lack of support for a conservation implementation, it would be crucial for conservationists to target their outreach efforts there.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Papageorgiou¹,

Bengil²,

Snape

et al. 2022

Medit. Mar. Sci.

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The tendency of world media to villainize of sharks has likely contributed to a disparity in the distribution of research and conservation resources among threatened marine megavertebrates, with elasmobranchs losing out. Increased public knowledge on elasmobranchs can shape public attitude and foster and gain support for elasmobranch conservation. Through an online survey, this study aimed to evaluate the drivers of public knowledge and examine linkages between awareness of elasmobranchs and attitude toward their conservation. To explore the relationships and effects between the different predicting variables and public elasmobranch knowledge and attitude indices, bi- and multi-variate analysis and a partial least squares path model were used. The results indicated that the average public elasmobranch knowledge of the Cypriot population was moderate and the average public attitude towards elasmobranchs was relatively low. Marine-related activities and marine-related education were highly correlated with increased public elasmobranch knowledge and were the strongest predictors of the partial least squares path model which explained a high degree of variation in elasmobranch knowledge. Public elasmobranch knowledge was highly correlated with public attitude towards elasmobranchs. The findings of this study highlighted the importance of ocean literacy and education and provide insights into the mechanisms for developing and designing successful advocacy actions for elasmobranch conservation.

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Understanding the public attitude towards sharks for improving their conservation

Cited by 27 publications

References 54 publications

Policy making for sharks and the role and contribution of non-governmental organisations in the fulfilment of international legal obligations

Policy making for sharks and the role and contribution of non-governmental organisations in the fulfilment of international legal obligations

Influence of social media on fear of sharks, perceptions of intentionality associated with shark bites, and shark management preferences

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

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