Shark tourism

Shark tourism is a form of eco-tourism rooted in having communities appreciate that local shark species are more valuable alive than dead. Instead of opting for a one time economic benefit of harvesting sharks for their body parts, communities are made to assist interested tourists who may want to see live sharks. Many divers and people are involved in interest groups such as the late iDive Sharks Network that aim to celebrate and promote safe and responsible shark diving activities. Another diver and marine biologist who focuses on shark conservation and promotes this form of ecotourism is Ocean Ramsey, who operates a company called One Ocean Diving out of Hawaii. Her program, just like many others, focuses on educating the public about these animals and allowing guests to get a first hand experience with them. This personal connection helps the general public realize their significance and in return want to help them.

Shark tourism is divided into four main branches:

Great White Shark viewing is available at the Neptune Islands in South Australia, South Africa, Isla Guadalupe in Mexico, and New Zealand - where Great White sharks are viewed using shark cages to keep the diver safe. Except for Isla Guadalupe where because of the exceptional visibility underwater more outside the cage diving is done than anywhere else.

The Great White industry was founded in the 1970s by pioneer Australian diver and Great White attack survivor Rodney Fox in South Australia. He was the sole world-wide operator until the South African industry was founded in early 1989 by Pieter van der Walt. He was joined shortly thereafter by pioneer diver and underwater photographer George Askew who handled promotions and put South African cage diving "on the map" with the publicity he got - until they split in Jan 1992, after they, together with famous Australian divers, Ron and Valerie Taylor, did the world's first dive amongst Great White sharks without a cage and completely unprotected.

This 'Frontier Pushing' dive was directly responsible for the upsurge in Shark Tourism – esp free-diving (i.e. Out of cage) swimming with big sharks. When would be operators around the world became aware of these four mad people who proved that the Great White was quite approachable and not likely to attack – thought that then maybe all the other 'Bad Boy' sharks like Tigers, Bulls and Oceanic's were safe to swim with too. This proved to be the case and shark tourism has become a multi-million-dollar a year industry.

...
Wikipedia