Individual shark profiling: An innovative and environmentally
Peer reviewed, Journal article
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Date
2018Metadata
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- Scientific publications [1470]
Original version
10.1111/conl.12612Abstract
Most shark-induced human fatalities are followed by widespread and unselective
culling campaigns that have limited effectiveness and may have high ecological costs
for threatened species. The blanket culling strategy implicitly assumes that incident
risk is directly correlated with shark density, an assumption that has yet to be demonstrated.
We present the alternative hypothesis that incidents are more likely to be
caused by behavioral variability among individual sharks than due to shark density.
Throughout their ontogenetic development, large species of sharks opportunistically
establish a diet that is rarely, if ever, inclusive of humans as a food source. We propose
that, some animals with specific behaviors (including boldness) may potentially
pose a higher risk than conspecifics. Under this scenario, the risk of a shark attack in
a given area would relate to the presence of a limited number of high-risk individuals
rather than shark density.
In terms of management of human fatalities, such a hypothesis would favor abandoning
general culling campaigns and replacing them with approaches that profile
and selectively remove the potential problem individuals, as is done in the terrestrial
realm when managing predators that attack humans or livestock.