Knowledge, perception and ownership by local stakeholders among the world’s largest shark sanctuary a decade after its inception

Abstract

Shark sanctuaries can be an effective tool for maintaining relatively high abundances of reef-associated sharks. Legally protecting sharks within a sanctuary, however, may not be sufficient without adequate knowledge of regulation, compliance and/or ownership within the protected area. This may be especially true in large and remote areas. Through 300 interviews on six islands representing a gradient of globalization, we evaluated stakeholder knowledge and perceptions of the world’s largest shark sanctuary of French Polynesia. We also captured their knowledge of traditional stories about sharks. Overall, only 26 % of the people interviewed were aware of the specific rules of the sanctuary. There was also little knowledge of ecologic, economic, and cultural value of sharks, including concerning ancestral Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Taken together, these results suggest that the efficacy of the sanctuary might be improved through efforts to better educate stakeholders about the specific goals and protections afforded to sharks by the sanctuary and by connecting the broader population with cultural connections of Polynesians with sharks.