Sharks are a part of healthy marine ecosystems and being bitten by a shark is a real yet very unlikely danger of entering the sea.
The presence of sharks close to shore is normal and not new behaviour.
Our power to observe the sea has greatly increased due to technology allowing for sharks to be followed, aerial patrols as well as the rapid rise in the sharing of images across social media platforms.
The more we observe the more we see and this is especially true for sharks.
While it may give the impression that sharks have rapidly increased in numbers, it is the ability to see and report them that has substantially increased.
Our research to provide a scientific estimate for adult white shark populations is being applied to the National Recovery Plan to manage conservation and public safety, and will help to inform future policy.
The presence of sharks is not always a good indicator of attack risk
Encounters with white sharks do not always lead to an attack.
In fact, there are many more sightings of white sharks by divers and other water users throughout Australian waters during which an aggressive interaction did not occur, than there are in which the safety of the person was threatened.
There are some popular bathing areas in Australia where white sharks are common yet these areas do not have a high rate of attack and on some beaches there have been no attacks despite frequent encounters.
The reasons why some encounters lead to an attack are unclear, but similar behaviours have been observed in terrestrial top-order predators such as 'big cats'.
Like other top order predators, white sharks do not continuously feed. They punctuate periods of predatory behaviour with lengthy periods of just swimming.
The presence of a large shark at any place frequented by people can present a real threat.
In most cases, encounters do not lead to an attack, however, a shark presence should always be taken seriously.
For these reasons too, the number of attacks, and how this varies from year to year, is a poor indicator of the number of sharks in the population.