The media paradox: influence on human shark perceptions and potential conservation impacts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15451/ec2020-12-10.12-1-15Keywords:
Shark framing, Human-shark interactions, Environmental perception, Media influence, ConservationAbstract
Sharks, due to some of their characteristics such as prominent teeth and size, cause fear in many people. This feeling can be evidenced due to encounters with these animals or sustained by media information. Currently, negative information on these animals, present in movies and the news, for example, has contributed to a worldwide feeling of "fear" or "anger" towards sharks in the general public. On the other hand, efforts to better understand these animals have increased. In addition to films and documentaries, many scientific and environmental education groups have attempted to improve or alleviate, public perception concerning this significant fear and promote shark conservation. In this context, we analyzed the perceptions of 354 people living in Rio de Janeiro, a coastal city in southeastern Brazil, by applying a structured online questionnaire about sharks. The findings reported herein indicate direct media influence on respondent perceptions, according to the “good” or “bad” image that media vehicles pass on concerning these animals, and that, despite an established fear of sharks, public support for their conservation is maintained. The factor analysis indicated a relationship between older people and more fear, and less fear among people aged 20-40 years. We believe that the lesser fear in the latter is related to the influence of the current media in this age group, such as documentaries and social networks, while older respondents lived in a period with less environmental information and became more susceptible to shark negative films and media, in which the fear persists today.
References
Achen C, Bartels L (2004) Blind Retrospection: Electoral Responses to Droughts, Floods, and Shark Attacks. Democracy for Realists 116–145
Acuña-Marrero D, Cruz-Modino R de la, Smith ANH, Salinas-de-León P, Pawley MDM, Anderson MJ (2018) Understanding human attitudes towards sharks to promote sustainable coexistence. Marine Policy 91:122–128
Alexandre M, Fernandes R (2006) O poder hoje está na mídia. Comum 11:145–168
Anderson SC, Flemming JM, Watson R, Lotze HK (2011) Serial exploitation of global sea cucumber fisheries. Fish and Fisheries 12:317–339
Andrelo R, Almeida LBC (2015) The media and body image: proposal of media critical reading activities. Comum Mídia Consumo 12:46–66
Barney EC, Mintzes JJ, Yen CF (2005) Assessing Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior Toward Charismatic Megafauna: The Case of Dolphins. Journal of Environmental Education 36:41–55
Berteaux D, Casajus N, Angerbjörn A, Fuglei E (2017) Foreword to Supplement 1: research on a polar species—the Arctic fox. Polar Research 36:1
Bogëholz S (2006) Nature experience and its importance for environmental knowledge, values and action: recent German empirical contributions. Environmental Education Research 12:65–84
Bousé D (1998) Are wildlife films really “nature documentaries”? Critical Studies in Media Communication 15:116–140
Bousé D (2003) False intimacy: Close-ups and viewer involvement in wildlife films. Visual Studies 18:123–132
Brower JE, Zar JH (1984) Field & laboratory methods for general ecology. W.C. Brown Publishers, Boston
Clarke SC, Harley SJ, Hoyle SD, Rice JS (2013) Population Trends in Pacific Oceanic Sharks and the Utility of Regulations on Shark Finning. Conservation Biology 27:197–209
Cortés E (2000) Life History Patterns and Correlations in Sharks. Reviews in Fisheries Science 8:299–344
Cortés E (2002) Incorporating uncertainty into demographic modeling: Application to shark populations and their conservation. Conservation Biology 16:1048–1062
Curtin P, Papworth S (2018) Increased information and marketing to specific individuals could shift conservation support to less popular species. Marine Policy 88:101–107
Davidson LNK, Krawchuk MA, Dulvy NK (2016) Why have global shark and ray landings declined: Improved management or overfishing? Fish and Fisheries 17:438–458
Dulvy NK, Forrest RE (2010) Sharks & Their Relatives II Chapter 17: Life histories, population dynamics, and extinction risks in Chondrichthyans. CRC Press, London
Dulvy NK, Fowler SL, Musick JA, Cavanagh RD, Kyne PM, Harrison LR, Carlson JK, Davidson LN, Fordham S V, Francis MP, Pollock CM, Simpfendorfer CA, Burgess GH, Carpenter KE, Compagno LJ, Ebert DA, Gibson C, Heupel MR, Livingstone SR, Sanciangco JC, Stevens JD, Valenti S, White WT (2014) Extinction risk and conservation of the world’s sharks and rays. eLife 3:1–34
Dulvy NK, Simpfendorfer CA, Davidson LNK, Fordham S V., Bräutigam A, Sant G, Welch DJ (2017) Challenges and Priorities in Shark and Ray Conservation. Current Biology 27:R565–R572
Fletcher S, Potts J (2007) Ocean citizenship: an emergent geographical concept. Coastal management 35:511–524
Francis B (2012) Before AND After " JAWS ": Changing Representations of Shark Attacks. The Australian Association for Maritime History 34:44–64
Fredrikson M, Annas P, Fischer H, Wik G (1996) Gender and age differences in the prevalence of specific fears and phobias. Behaviour Research and Therapy 34:33–39
Friedrich LA, Jefferson R, Glegg G (2014) Public perceptions of sharks: Gathering support for shark conservation. Marine Policy 47:1–7
García VB, Lucifora LO, Myers RA (2008) The importance of habitat and life history to extinction risk in sharks, skates, rays and chimaeras. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 275:83–89
Gibbs L, Warren A (2014) Killing Sharks: cultures and politics of encounter and the sea. Australian Geographer 45:101–107
Hansen A (2010) Environment, Media and Communication. 2o edition ed. Routledge, Oxon
Jefferson RL (2010) Communicating marine environmental health: Connecting science, social and policy values.
Kellert SR (1985) Public perceptions of predators, particularly the wolf and coyote. Biological Conservation 31:167–189
Kollmuss A, Agyeman J (2002) Mind the Gap: why do people act environmentally and what are barriers to pro-environmental behavior? Environmental Education Research 8:239–260
de la Lama RL, de la Puente S, Riveros JC (2018) Attitudes and misconceptions towards sharks and shark meat consumption along the Peruvian coast. PLoS ONE 13:1–16
Lack M, Sant G (2011) The future of sharks: a review of action and inaction. Traffic International
Legendre P, Legendre L (1998) Numerical Ecology, Developments in Environmental Modelling, 20, 2ed. Elsevier, New York, 853pp
Liberal CN, Santos GKN, Demétrio K de M, Morimura MM, Vasconcelos SD (2006) Shark attacks in Pernambuco, Brazil: analysis of bather’s perceptions and environmental factors. Tropical Oceanography 34:86–99
Lucrezi S, Ellis S, Gennari E (2019) A test of causative and moderator effects in human perceptions of sharks, their control and framing. Marine Policy 109:103687
Lucrezi S, Geldenhuys L-L, Van der Merwe P, Saayman M (2018) Utility of Users Data and Their Support for Differential Beach Management in South Africa. South Africa, pp. 933–960
Lucrezi S, van der Walt MF (2016) Beachgoers’ perceptions of sandy beach conditions: demographic and attitudinal influences, and the implications for beach ecosystem management. Journal of Coastal Conservation 20:81–96
Lynch AMJ, Sutton SG, Simpfendorfer CA (2010) Implications of recreational fishing for elasmobranch conservation in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 20:312–318
McClenachan L, Cooper AB, Carpenter KE, Dulvy NK (2012) Extinction risk and bottlenecks in the conservation of charismatic marine species. Conservation Letters 5:73–80
Miller JR (2005) Biodiversity, conservation and the extinction of experience. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20:430–434
Musick JA (1999) Life in the Slow Lana: Ecology and conservation of long-lived marine animals. American Fisheries Society, Maryland
Muter BA, Gore ML, Gledhill KS, Lamont C, Huveneers C (2013) Australian and U.S. News Media Portrayal of Sharks and Their Conservation. Conservation Biology 27:187–196
Neff C (2014) Human perceptions and attitudes towards sharks: Examining the predator policy paradox. Sharks: Conservation, Governance and Management. Routledge, pp. 127–152
Neff C (2015) The Jaws Effect: How movie narratives are used to influence policy responses to shark bites in Western Australia. Australian Journal of Political Science 50:114–127
Neff CL, Yang JYH (2013) Shark bites and public attitudes: Policy implications from the first before and after shark bite survey. Marine Policy 38:545–547
O’Bryhim JR, Parsons ECM (2015) Increased knowledge about sharks increases public concern about their conservation. Marine Policy 56:43–47
Pepin-Neff C, Wynter T (2019) Save the sharks: reevaluating and (re)valuing feared predators. Human Dimensions of Wildlife 24:87–94
Pepin-Neff CL, Wynter T (2018) Reducing fear to influence policy preferences: An experiment with sharks and beach safety policy options. Marine Policy 88:222–229
Polidoro BA, Livingstone SR, Carpenter KE, Hutchinson B, Mast RB, Pilcher NJ, Mitcheson YS de, Valenti S V. (2008) Status of the world’s marine species." Wildlife in a Changing World–An Analysis of the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 55–65
Rajecki DW (1990) Attitudes, themes and advances. 2o edition ed. Sinauer Associates, Inc, Sunderland
Sabatier E, Huveneers C (2018) Changes in media portrayal of human-wildlife conflict during successive fatal shark bites. Conservation and Society 16:338–350
Shiffman DS, Bittick SJ, Cashion MS, Colla SR, Coristine LE, Derrick DH, Gow EA, Macdonald CC, O’Ferrall MM, Orobko M, Pollom RA, Provencher J, Dulvy NK (2020) Inaccurate and Biased Global Media Coverage Underlies Public Misunderstanding of Shark Conservation Threats and Solutions. iScience
STATSOFT, Inc (2005) STATISTICA (data analysis software system), version 7.1, www.statsoft.com
Whatmough S, Van Putten I, Chin A (2011) From hunters to nature observers: A record of 53 years of diver attitudes towards sharks and rays and marine protected areas. Marine and Freshwater Research 62:755–763
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
