This record provides an overview of the scope and research output of NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub Project A4 - "The status of human-shark interactions and initiatives to mitigate risk in Australia". For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata.

--------------------

Considerable political, public and media attention has recently been focussed on human-shark interactions, specifically surrounding shark attack and ways to mitigate this risk. Finding the most appropriate policy balance between conservation of sharks, maximising public safety and understanding the broader social and economic ramifications/drivers for doing so is a continuing challenge for Government. This project will review the status of human-shark interactions in Australia, provide a synthesis of current initiatives to reduce risk, review recent international efforts to address these issues and identify knowledge gaps to provide an informed base for determining the most appropriate future research and policy support.

The project will develop a background document that:

• Provides a synthesis of the current state of knowledge of shark-human interactions in Australia, focussing specifically on species such as white sharks, bull sharks and tiger sharks

• Identifies what initiatives are currently underway nationally to address human-shark interactions including the status of current research as well as current management and policy initiatives.

• Identifies technological developments within Australia and internationally in this space

• Identifies lessons and experiences from these initiatives

• Identifies issues and knowledge gaps

• Provides guidance to the Department regarding further investment that is cognisant of State Government initiatives and requirements and ensure a coordinated national knowledge base for addressing these issues