Everyone knows you shouldn’t feed wild bears. But do sharks respond the same way to food provisioning as bears or other land predators?

The short answer: No.

Sharks are not mammals, they do not form dependency relationships, they do not defend territories, and their feeding ecology and learning processes are fundamentally different from terrestrial animals.

Still, baited shark dives often raise understandable concerns from the public:

  • Do these activities attract sharks closer to shore?
  • Do they condition sharks to associate humans with food?
  • Do baited shark dives increase the risk of shark bites on swimmers or surfers?

These questions appear frequently in media reports, online debates, and coastal communities. But decades of scientific research say the fears are unfounded. Baited shark dives and baiting sharks do not increase the risk of shark bites on the public.

Below, we break down what the peer-reviewed science to date actually shows.

 

1) No Evidence Linking Baited Shark Dives to Shark Attacks

For more than 30 years, shark tourism has been occurring globally. Despite tens of thousands of trips and millions of shark–human encounters, scientists have not found any connection between cage diving or chumming and an increase in unprovoked shark bites on swimmers or surfers.

For scientists that have actually tested the relationship between cage diving with great white sharks and human safety, they have found:

  • Shark attack rates do not increase near dive sites
  • Sharks do not shift their movements toward beaches or swimmers
  • Public risk does not rise after periods of chumming

Scientific Sources: Johnson & Kock (2006), Kock et al. (2012), Huveneers et al. (2013), Bruce (2015):

 

2) Behavioral Effects Exist — But They Are Mild, Temporary, and Not Dangerous

Do baiting and chumming change shark behavior?
In some cases, yes — briefly and locally, and not in harmful or risky ways to the sharks or humans.

For scientists that have studies the relationship between cage diving and great white sharks, they have found:

  • Sharks sometimes swim shallower when chumming is present
  • They may patrol a smaller localized area around the vessel
  • Residency may be slightly longer during ecotourism periods
  • Activity level increases short-term (mild energetic cost)

But here’s what doesn’t change:

  • Long-distance migrations
  • Natural hunting behavior
  • Regional movements
  • Overall ecology and fitness
  • Predatory behavior on natural prey

Scientific sources: Laroche 2007; Bruce & Bradford 2012; Huveneers 2013)

 

3) Baiting Does Not Bring Sharks to Places They Don’t Already Occur

One of the biggest myths is that baiting “creates sharks” in areas where they don’t normally occur. This is false. Bait will attract sharks nearby, but it won’t turn a location that is void of sharks to a shark hotspot. If sharks are not present naturally or traveling through the area, no amount of bait will suddenly make them appear. This is why shark dive operators choose locations known for natural shark activity.

Baiting only works if sharks are already passing through or inhabiting an area. This is why operators choose natural shark aggregation sites (e.g., seal colonies, migratory routes, seasonal hotspots).

If sharks don’t exist there already, bait won’t make them appear.

 

4) Sharks Do Not Associate Humans With Food

To condition a shark to associate humans with food, several things must happen:

Repeated exposures with positive reinforcement (feeding)

In most cage diving operations:

  • White sharks are not intentionally fed
  • Bait is used as an olfactory attractant (they follow the smell), not as a reward
  • If a shark snags a piece of bait, it’s not a whole fish or seal or turtle, it is trivial compared to the amount of food they get from natural prey.

Sharks must generalize the association to humans

  • But sharks are visual specialists, and humans look nothing like their natural prey. An when it comes to cage diving, the sharks see the cage (not the people in it) and the cage looks nothing like swimmers, divers, or surfers.

The association must persist even without chum

  • This does not happen.

Telemetry and long-term observational studies show:

  • Sharks do not keep approaching boats after exposure to bait
  • Many sharks actually spend less time near boats over repeated encounters with bait
  • Evidence suggests negative conditioning — great white sharks may actually learn there is no reward and lose interest in bait

If sharks learned that “boats = food,” we would see sharks flocking to all boats.
This is not observed anywhere in the world.

 

5) Fishing Produces FAR More “Attractants” Than Shark Tourism

This point is almost entirely overlooked in public discussions.

Commercial and recreational fishing activities produce massively stronger scent signals and food rewards than any shark tourism vessel.

Fishing fleets routinely:

  • Discard fish waste (guts, heads, blood)
  • Lose bait and hooks
  • Trail struggling or bleeding fish to the surface
  • Release fish oil and blood
  • Attract scavenging sharks naturally

Sharks regularly feed on:

  • Discarded carcasses
  • Bait intended for other species
  • Fish that are actively being reeled in during fishing

If sharks were conditioned by bait or chum to “seek humans,” then fishing hotspots would have sky-high shark bite rates.

They do not.

This is powerful evidence that sharks do NOT generalize food smell to human swimmers.

 

6) Natural Prey Create Far Stronger Scent Trails Than Chum

Natural prey sources, like seals, release enormous, continuous smell cues from:

  • Urine, feces
  • Blood
  • dead carcasses

Bait used by most cage diving vessels would be background noise compared to natural prey cues.  In fact, white shark cage-diving operators position near seal colonies for this reason, because sharks are already there naturally.

 

So, What About the Bear Analogy?

Feeding terrestrial mammals, like bears, condition them to humans because:

  • Mammals have sophisticated reward learning systems
  • They seek predictable food sources
  • They defend territory
  • They return repeatedly to human food sources

Sharks are not mammals. They do not:

  • Form dependency relationships
  • Recognize individual humans
  • Have a life history strategy that supports long-term provisioning dependence

 

Responsible Shark Diving: A Precautionary and Science-Based Approach

That said, common sense and precaution are always important when working with wildlife. While baited shark dives have not been shown to increase shark bite risk, responsible operators should still follow common sense and take a precautionary approach to minimize disturbance and maintain high safety standards.

Such approaches would:

  • Avoid operating directly at swimming beaches or near recreational water-use areas
  • Use controlled baiting methods that limit that amount of food taken by sharks.
  • Never hand-feed sharks
  • Follow local regulations and collaborate with scientists
  • Use the experience to educate guests about shark ecology and conservation

When conducted responsibly, baited shark dives can be safe, ethical, and scientifically supported. Even more importantly, they:

  • Promote shark conservation and public empathy
  • Dispel myths and reduce fear
  • Generate non-consumptive economic value that benefits coastal communities
  • Provide invaluable research opportunities that help scientists protect vulnerable shark populations

 

Additional Reading Sources:

 

References Cited

Bruce BD (2015). A review of cage diving impacts on white shark behaviour and recommendations for research and the industry’s management in New Zealand. Report to the Department of Conservation, New Zealand: CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research.

Huveneers C, Rogers P, Beckmann C, Semmens J, Bruce B & Seront L (2013). The effects of cage-diving activities on the fine-scale swimming behaviour and space use of white sharks. Marine Biology, 11:160, 2863-2875.

Johnson R & Kock A (2006). South Africa’s white shark cage-diving industry- is there cause for concern? In: Nel, D.C. & Paschal, T.P. (Eds.). Finding a Balance: White Shark Conservation and Recreational Safety in the Inshore Waters of Cape Town, South Africa; Proceedings of a Specialist Workshop. WWF South Africa Report Series- 2006/Marine001.

Laroche RK, Kock AA, Dill LM & Oosthuizen WH (2007). Effects of provisioning ecotourism activity on the behaviour of white sharks Carcharodon carcharias. Marine Ecology Press Series, 338, 199-209.