Great white sharks unfairly maligned

Reuters

GREAT WHITE: Tagging has revealed the sharks travel vast distances.

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The reputation for being senseless killers that great white sharks have is rather undeserved.

So says shark researcher Barry Bruce, who has studied the animals for more than 20 years. He said that, as more research about the species came to light, it was quite clear they did not ''actively hunt out people''.

Mr Bruce, who works for the CSIRO in Hobart, said it was easy to find information about great white sharks in books and the media, but added: ''The information you find may not be correct.''

Mr Bruce visited Sydney Aquarium last week to talk about his work with great whites - they are considered a ''vulnerable'' species after years of overfishing and are protected in Australia - and dispel a few myths about them.

One of the most common misconceptions about great whites was that they lived around seal colonies.

''That couldn't be further from the truth,'' he said.

Mr Bruce's research showed white sharks travelled vast distances. They might visit seal colonies to feed but they don't stay there for more than a couple of weeks.

''We've tagged sharks in NSW and had them turn up in New Zealand, and sharks that were tagged in South Africa have turned up in Australia.''

He said another common myth was that great whites hung around the shoreline. ''That's because we are on the shore and that is where we see them.''

But he said, generally, great whites travelled about 10 to 15 kilometres out to sea.

Port Stephens, north of Newcastle, was one of the few areas that juvenile great whites did gather in Australia. ''Those beaches have never had a shark attack,'' he said.

Mr Bruce said while shark attacks could be very tragic events, they were incredibly rare.

According to the Australian Shark Attack File, recorded by Taronga Zoo, there have been 52 fatal shark attacks in Australia in 50 years.

But Mr Bruce said great white sharks were potentially dangerous and should be treated with respect.

It was only in the past five years, with improved tracking and tagging technologies, that scientists had learnt about the great white's movements and behaviour, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News