Great white sharks are vulnerable apex predators whose ecological importance is increasingly recognised alongside their welfare needs in the face of fishing, bycatch, and targeted killing.
Great white shark welfare is most acutely compromised by drum lines and shark nets at beaches, where hooked sharks may struggle for many hours before dying from exhaustion, physical injury, or drowning when unable to maintain water flow over gills. The suffering of individual animals in beach protection programmes is real and extensive. Bycatch entanglement causes similar distress. The perception of great whites as mindless killers has historically depoliticised their killing, but their complex behaviours — investigation, memory, long-distance navigation, and apparent social tolerance — suggest a more sophisticated inner life than commonly attributed. Non-lethal shark management (smart drumlines with rapid release, drone surveillance, personal deterrents) protects bathers without inflicting welfare costs on sharks.