We thank the Wendy P. McCaw Foundation for supporting our efforts to:

• raise public awareness about the potential threats posed to white sharks by cage-diving and other human activities, and
• work with cage-diving, other recreational industries, and marine managers to restrict potentially harmful activites and ensure the long-term protection of white sharks in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.

White Shark Protection in California

More Rare Than Dangerous: A Case Study of White Shark Conservation in California (Adobe .pdf from the book Great White Sharks, Klimley and Ainley, 1996.

More Rare Than Dangerous* by Burr Heneman From PRBO Observer #111, Fall 1997

In the early 1980's, while Burr Heneman was PRBO's Executive Director, our Farallon biologists called for White Shark protection based on island monitoring. Burr supported both the research effort and conservation initiative. In 1993, while with the Center for Marine Conservation, he wrote the legislation to protect white sharks in California for five years. This year marks a major milestone.- Editor

In August 1997, California Governor Pete Wilson signed a bill to give permanent protection to Great White Sharks in California waters- a marine conservation success made possible by 27 years of research from the Farallon Islands on this remarkable species.

Why is it even desirable to protect the species that arguably elicits more fear in humans than any other? The short answer is that White Sharks are an important part of our marine ecosystem, they're vulnerable to even low levels of exploitation by humans, and their bad reputation is an exaggeration.

White Sharks are important top predators in California coastal waters- the only species, for example, that provides any check on seal and sea lion populations, which have exploded in the 25 years since passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. As is true of top predators generally, White Sharks appear to be slow-growing, taking many years to reach breeding age; they produce few young when they breed and may not breed every year. All evidence indicates that the adult shark numbers along our coast are low, with best estimates ranging from the high tens to low hundreds of individuals.

That combination- a small population and low reproductive potential- makes a species vulnerable; it is a key to justifying protective measures. Even low levels of commercial or sport fishing can affect the White Shark's survival in this region.

PRBO's Farallon observations were critical in providing evidence of the White Sharks scarcity. PRBO biologists began keeping records of White Shark attacks on seals and sea lions in the early 1970's, not as a formal research project at first- just observing and noting a phenomenon that might someday be of greater interest. It was hard to overlook these violent, bloody events near the island, accompanied by raucous Western Gulls looking for scraps from the sharks' meals.

Over several years, a pattern of attacks began to emerge. As numbers of northern elephant seals at the Farallones increased each fall, the number of shark attacks increased at about the same rate until 1982. That fall, a commercial fisherman decided to target White Sharks and easily caught four big adults off the South Farallon Islands. Shark attacks on pinnipeds immediately plummeted and took five years to recover. From that episode shark biologists concluded that only a few adult white sharks visit the islands each fall, and that the loss of even a few can be significant. More formal shark research projects on the Farallones since 1987- the study of individuals, using scars observed in photographs, and behavioral studies using acoustic telemetry from transmitters fed to sharks in bait- have reinforced tentative conclusions about these fascinating animals and extended our knowledge into new areas.

The Farallon shark study is a classic example of a scientific observatory fulfilling its mission. For more than 30 years, at its research sites including Southeast Farallon Island, PRBO has consistently gathered a range of data on natural systems. In this case, as in others, our study had unanticipated application: after identifying a problem, it led quite directly to interim protection for White Sharks in California, in 1994 and permanent protection following this year's legislation.

California was the second jurisdiction in the world (after South Africa) to protect White Sharks. Since 1994, Queensland and New South Wales in Australia have followed our lead, and the National Marine Fisheries Service has prohibited the take of White Sharks in their shark fishery management plant for the Atlantic an Gulf of Mexico. The Farallon example- observing, detecting a problem, and providing scientific underpinnings for conservation- now has benefited the Great White Shark in much of its range.

*Documenting White Shark attacks along the California coast from 1973 to 1992, John McCosker and Bob Lea authenticated only 43 on humans, mostly surfers and snorkels; fewer then 10% of these (only four in 20 years) were fatal.

The following is a copy of the petition sent by PRBO biologists to Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary in 2001.

Ed Ueber
Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary
Fort Mason, Bldg 201
San Francisco, CA 94123

30 July 2001

Dear Ed,

We are writing on behalf of the Point Reyes Bird Observatory (PRBO), a non-profit ecological research group with 30+ years of experience researching and conserving the marine ecosystem off Central California. We have a permanent field station established on the Farallon Islands, in the center of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (GFNMS), and have been studying white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) there since the 1970's.

We wish to express concern over activities by for-profit enterprises attempting to show white sharks to paying customers in the GFNMS, just off Southeast Farallon Island (SEFI), during the autumns of 1999 and 2000. Most of these activities have been performed by one outfit, Golden Gate Expeditions (www.whitesharkadventures.com owned and operated by Lawrence Groth), but several other outfits came out in November 2000 and we understand that even more may be gearing up for autumn 2001. Activities of concern to us include harassment of white sharks through chumming, approaching feeding white sharks in large vessels, scaring them away from their food, and putting out seal decoys (some of which were made with heavy lumber) which the sharks attack at risk of substantial injury. Activity by these enterprises interferes with our long-term research (as documented below) and, more importantly, has the potential to greatly interfere with the livelihoods and well-being of the sharks. Before the shark-watching business gets out of control at the Farallones, as it has in Australia and South Africa (completely ruining studies at other research sites), we wish to petition the sanctuary for regulatory ammendments protecting the sharks and allowing for the continuation of our research.

Our studies on the white sharks at the Farallones have gained widespread recognition in both popular and scientific arenas. We have undertaken long-term population monitoring through standardized watches from the lighthouse atop SEFI, studied the influences on sharks of oceanographic conditions and other environmental variables, investigated the reactions of sharks to decoys of various shapes and sizes, documented thermoregulation and individual and sex-specific occurrence patterns around the island, studied predator-prey relationships, and investigated various other aspects of shark behavior. In 1997 we documented the attack on a white shark by a killer whale (Orcinus orca) and the subsequent disappearance of white sharks at the island, an event that repeated itself in the fall of 2000. Our research led directly to a 1994 California State Assembly bill protecting white sharks in the state. Much of this research has been published in the scientific literature (see bibliography, below) and communicated to the public through numerous documentaries, popular articles, and lectures. All research involving decoys and tagging have been under permit with the California Department of Fish and Game.

Our current studies involve the documentation of individual white sharks for mark-recapture analyses (shedding light on population demography, trends, residency patterns, survivorship, and recruitment within the population) and deploying archival pop-up satellite tags to understand the Pacific ranges and breeding biology of this little-known species. Both of these studies require us to approach feeding sharks to document individuals and deploy the tags. During more than 10 years of research, sanctioned, permitted, and partially funded by the GFNMS, we have learned how to carefully approach feeding white sharks while causing as little interference as possible to them and their behavior. Our boats are 11 to 17 feet in length, we approach a feeding shark in an indirect manner, and we perform most of our work away from the feeding individuals. We have learned that sharks will approach smaller boats but that boats over 20 feet in length (bigger than the sharks) often scare sharks away from a seal carcass, in most cases permanently. We also use light-weight decoys in a scientifically controlled and standardized way to obtain data on shark reactions to images of varying shapes and sizes and on shark abundance around SEFI irrespective of pinniped abundance, without harming the sharks. We hope to continue this important research for many years to come.

Various attempts to commercially view white sharks at the Farallones have been undertaken since the late 1980's. Most of these have failed due to the often harsh weather conditions at the Farallones and the unpredictability of the sharks. Diving outfits with cages have usually given up due to cold water and weather and lack of underwater visibility for most of the fall. The most successful long-term shark-watching has occurred from the Oceanic Society's 90-foot whale-watching vessel New Superfish, from which participants have been able to view many feeding sharks since the early 1990's. We have developed a good working relationship with the captain of the New Superfish, Mick Meningoz, primarily because of the respect this captain has for the sharks and for our research. Meningoz never approaches feeding sharks directly or quickly, remains at least 100 m away from a feeding event, and in no way interferes with our research.

In the fall of 1999 Golden Gate Expeditions (GGE) began chumming for sharks and deploying decoys from several boats while attempting to show white sharks to paying customers (mostly divers in cages). Activities by GGE that year are documented in a letter by us of 6 January 2000 to the Chief of the Marine Sanctuaries Division requesting regulations to prohibit chumming for white sharks in GFNMS waters. We never received a response to this letter but we heard that the Marine Sanctuaries attorney, Mr. Paul Ortiz, ruled against the prohibition of chumming at the Farallones.

During the fall of 2000 Golden Gate Expeditions made at least 18 trips to the Farallones in the 32-foot vessel Patriot between 20 September and 18 October. Surfboards and seal-shaped decoys were floated behind this vessel on most or all of these dates, and these decoys were towed around the island on at least 14 dates. Sharks were witnessed by island personnel interacting with these decoys on at least seven occasions (several of which were not noticed by participants on the Patriot) and this likely occurred on numerous other occasions not witnessed by island personnel. Because there was no standardized record-keeping or systematic deployment of these decoys our own efforts to study white shark behavior and determine shark abundance were biased by the Patriot deployments and thus of no scientific value.

By 15 October a primary strategy of the Patriot was to wait by the landing until we sighted a shark feeding and to follow us in our research vessel to the location. This occurred on at least six occasions, the distance between the Patriot and the feeding sharks decreasing to within 10 m as the season progressed, despite our admonishments to keep a distance. On three occasions we documented sharks being scared away from a seal carcass by the proximity of the Patriot. These events occurred on 16 October, 3 November, and 4 November and are documented in our research records. For example, on 4 November the Patriot rushed directly up to a shark attack in Fisherman's Bay, scaring the predator away from its prey. The boat and seal carcass floated in close proximity for approximately 45 minutes without the presence of a shark. Only after the Patriot departed the carcass did sharks return to it (approximately 15 minutes later), and by this time they had drifted 500 m from the original attack site so it was likely a different shark.

In addition to Patriot we witnessed at least five other boats at the Farallones attempting to view white sharks during fall 2000. We believe that some of these boats had been encouraged by the GGE website to come out and float decoys on their own. On 4 November the approximately 60-foot fishing vessel Houlicat deployed a seal-shaped decoy constructed of plywood and 2 X 4's which was rushed upon and attacked by a white shark. This episode, recounted in the San Francisco Chronicle ("Outdoors" section the following week) likely resulted in lost teeth or other injury to the shark, potentially severe. At least three other small vessels (names unknown) were observed deploying surfboard decoys in November 2000.

Because there are currently no restrictions to the activities of these commercial enterprises we feel that both the sharks and our ability to collect meaningful research are at risk and that regulations are needed. In Australia and South Africa multiple feuding shark-watching enterprises created a hostile environment for each other and the sharks, and caused the disruption and eventual abandonment of valuable long-term research at these locales.

We are requesting emergency regulations (for the 3-month period September to November 2001) similar to those in place by the National Marine Fisheries Service for Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Hawaii, as follow. This process will allow the sanctuary to educate ecotourism operators on proper wildlife viewing while continuing to allow meaningful research or educational pursuits that do not interfere with the behavior of the sharks.

1) Vessels cannot approach feeding white sharks within 100 m without a
research or educational permit. We further recommend that no boats over 6 m
in length be allowed to approach within 100 m.

2) No more than two permitted vessels may approach a feeding white shark at
the same time.

3) No decoys shall be allowed without a research permit. Decoys could be
defined as any floating object larger than 50 cm and smaller than 4 m in
length.

4) No chumming shall be allowed within the Sanctuary except by commercial and
sports fisheries as allowed by State Fishery Regulations.

5) No intentional "take" (defined as the actual or attempted harassment, hunt,
capture, or kill) of white sharks by any means may occur.

Thank you very much and we look forward to your response.

Peter Pyle, Scot Anderson

If you support regulations protecting White Sharks at the Farallon Islands you may send a letter to Anne.walton@noaa.gov.