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RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)
Contents Vol 52(7)

Chum dine with me: assessing the effects of wildlife tourism on non-target fish assemblages

Sasha K. Whitmarsh https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8934-2354 A * , Thomas M. Clarke https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3342-7671 B , Mollie Owens B , Jamie Hicks C , Danny Brock C , Caitlin J. Fox B , Lauren Meyer B and Charlie Huveneers B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Warrnambool Campus, Warrnambool, Vic 3280, Australia.

B Southern Shark Ecology Group, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia.

C Marine Science Team, Department of Environment and Water, SA Government, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia.

* Correspondence to: sasha.whitmarsh@deakin.edu.au

Handling Editor: Alison Kock

Wildlife Research 52, WR24211 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR24211
Submitted: 20 December 2024  Accepted: 21 May 2025  Published: 4 July 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY)

Abstract

Context

Wildlife tourism is becoming increasingly popular and often uses bait and berley to attract the target species and enhance customer experience. However, few studies have assessed the effects of food-based attractants on non-target species. Understanding the impacts of provisioning on the marine ecosystem, including non-target species, is required to assess the effects of wildlife tourism comprehensively.

Aims

We compared fish assemblages at a white shark cage-diving site to those at other offshore islands to assess whether any detectable differences could be observed and attributed to shark diving operations.

Methods

We used baited remote underwater video stations (BRUVS) to quantify and compare fish assemblages across a 6-year timespan at the Neptunes Islands Group (South Australia) and six reference locations. The Neptunes Islands Group consist of one high provisioning site, where most (~85%) of the bait and berley input takes place, and one lower provisioning site, where operators visit less frequently.

Key results

Fish assemblages at the Neptunes Islands Group and all other offshore islands had similar levels of variability. There was a higher total abundance of fish at both Neptune Islands sites than at reference sites, driven by higher abundances of horseshoe leatherjacket, Meuschenia hippocrepis, and barber perch, Caesioperca rasor. However, there were no detectable differences in species richness or evenness between the Neptunes Islands Group and other offshore islands.

Conclusions

Despite operators using food-based attractant on a near daily basis and some fishes feeding on bait and berley continuously, the cage-diving industry has minimal effects on demersal fish abundance and diversity.

Implications

This suggests that the current level of provisioning has limited ecological impacts on the reef fish community and highlights that the management regulations are currently suitable for non-target fish assemblages.

Keywords: anthropogenic stressor, baited cameras, BRUVS, cage-diving, fish assemblages, offshore island, shark tourism, temperate fish, white shark.

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