Abstract
Global shark populations face numerous threats. How the public perceives these threats and risks to shark populations is not well understood. Data on public knowledge and attitudes about shark conservation among U.S. adults was collected through an online survey and analyzed to find correlations between media exposure and perceptions of sharks and shark conservation. This study found that people perceive species that they are exposed to more often through different forms of media as being more endangered than species that they are exposed to less often in the media, in contrast to actual conservation statuses. For values-based questions about ecological and economic importance, naturalness, and inherent right to exist, people who had more trust in media sources believed sharks to have more value overall. People exposed to information about sharks more frequently believed shark attacks were more common and had more recently heard about attacks. Greater exposure to trustworthy sources predicted acknowledgment that the United States plays a role in shark population declines and that responsibility for conservation challenges does not exclusively lie elsewhere. According to the results of ArcGIS cluster analyses, perceptions that individuals commonly shared within geographic proximity were not likely due to random chance. Understanding baseline values and perceptions of the U.S. public can help conservationists and policy advocates identify the kinds of policies that may garner more support, target outreach and educational material better, and identify sources of misinformation.