White sharks have been protected for 25 years — is that linked to recent attacks?

Scientists and surfers want to know whether steps to protect the marine predators along Australia's coasts are linked to a recent wave of attacks. Aboard the "Rodney Fox", a vessel named in honour of one of the nation's most celebrated shark attack survivors, he recently voyaged to the Neptune Islands — an aggregation site for the predators. "The Neptune Islands are … one of the only places in the world where you can get white sharks all year around," he said. "The whole point of protecting a species is to ensure its recovery — so it's only logical that if the recovery is successful, we're going to get more shark bites," Charlie acknowledged. "We now have enough knowledge and technology to minimise those risks so that people can continue … to have that ocean lifestyle that Australians are so famous for," shark ecologist Charlie Huveneers said.