Abstract

For years, sharks have been depicted in the media as bloodthirsty man-eating predators. A study by Le Busque and Litchfield (2021), found that 96% of movies portray sharks negatively. Despite this widespread depiction, the scientific community has combated this assumption by documenting the docile and relatively harmless nature of these apex oceanic predators). With this scientific evidence and the assistance of local NGOs, The Bahamas became the first Caribbean country to establish a nationwide shark sanctuary in 2011, which prevented the possession, fishing, sale, import, or export of any shark parts in this country. This decision was met with apprehension as many Caribbean countries like Trinidad and Tobago have a history of consuming sharks. However, this decision has been beneficial to the local shark diving industry, as it contributes millions to the country’s GDP (Haas et al., 2017). The protection efforts have also resulted in species-specific ‘hotspots’ and pupping grounds like Tiger Beach in Grand Bahama (Smukall et al., 2022). Despite this, compared to other Caribbean nations this archipelagic island nation has received an alarming amount of shark attacks throughout the years and this has led to the possibility of even lifting the ban due to the damage it is having on the country's fisheries and essential tourism industry. In the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, however, shark meat is a delicacy. Shark and Bake is a popular, cultural dish consisting of a sandwich made of fried and battered shark meat enjoyed locally and by tourists alike, and is the 6th largest exporter of sharkfin to Hong Kong. Interestingly, this dual island nation doesn't have an alarming number of attacks but there seems to be a call for conservation among the locals (Ali et al., 2020).