The iconic white shark contributes to healthy oceans as top predators in the marine ecosystem but they are under threat and vulnerable to depleting numbers. We provide knowledge and advice on white shark populations to help manage their conservation.
Answers to the questions we are most often asked about white sharks, such as where they are, how many there are, how we tag and track them, and why they need protecting.
The white shark is listed as vulnerable and migratory under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
There are no reliable estimates of white shark population sizes or trends in Australian waters.
Seal colonies regularly visited by white sharks can be ideal for shark viewing tourism. In Australia, white shark cage diving occurs only at the Neptune Islands Group Marine Park.
Shark nets operate by entangling sharks that swim into them by chance.
An understanding of shark movements and behaviour, however, is important to better understand the risk of encounters with sharks. Our research does not relate directly to shark attacks.
White sharks occur in coastal, shelf, and continental slope waters around Australia, from north-western Western Australia and south around the coast to central Queensland.