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Protection of white sharks and the outlawing of trade in their
body-products is afforded by statute Fisheries legislation in South
Africa (since April, 1991), similarly by State measures within the
jurisdiction of California (State Assembly Bill AB 522), off Florida,
the State of Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales and Western Australia. Directed
captures of these sharks off the entire eastern USA is now prohibited by
legislation enacted in early 1997.
In some areas (South Australia and South Africa; and more recently
California) the white shark has been identified as a lucrative source of
largely unregulated and unlicensed diving-adventure trips, photographic
commerce or plain ecotourism, rather analogous to whale-watching.
Where properly controlled and licensed as in South Australia, such
passive exploitation - although not without its own unique pitfalls or
controversy - can help foster public concern for the welfare of these
sharks whilst allowing limited human contact outside the realm of public
aquaria, where all attempts to display captive white sharks have failed
to-date (and perhaps will always do so). Existing (and proposed)
unilateral legislation serves not only to protect the welfare of
free-swimming white sharks but moreover to outlaw the trade in their
products. It thus remains imperative that existing legislation remains
diligently enforced and monitored.
The Shark Trust, alongside the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and
other conservation bodies, believes that ultimately the white sharkıs
future can only be secured through global legislation. Seeking a
listing within the remits of CITES protection is considered imperative.
After all, the vulnerability of white sharks to curio-hunting is
poignantly comparable to previous exploitation of large terrestrial
predators such as tigers for trophies, furs and so-on.
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