Shark Cage-Diving Industry Retools Image

A great white shark swims around the boat during a shark festival in Gansbaai, South Africa, Saturday, Aug. 18, 2007. The self-proclaimed Great White Capital of the world hosted a weekend festival to dispel the myths and misconceptions that have plagued the shark since the film "Jaws" which portrayed the mighty predator as an indiscriminate killing machine. (AP Photo/Obed Zilwa) (Obed Zilwa - AP)

It was an awe-inspiring sight, and a far cry from the terror invoked by "Jaws," the 1975 film that portrayed the great white as an indiscriminate killing machine. Even so, the close encounter proved too much for a cage occupant who was copiously sick after he emerged from just under the water's surface.

There are few precise figures on the number of great whites left in the world. Estimates talk of around 1,200 off the South African coast, although these are unreliable because of the vast distances the sharks swim.

South Africa was the first country in the world to declare the great white a protected species in 1991 _ 13 years before international conservation bodies declared it to be endangered.

Alison Kock, with the University of Cape Town's shark research unit, says there should be independent monitors on all the cage-diving vessels to ensure they don't feed the sharks or tease them into coming too close.

"The problem is with high expectations that tourists have," Kock said in an interview. "They are not happy with just seeing the sharks but they want them to leap out of the water or go right against the cage."

Kock says the shark tour operators help dispel myths that have plagued the great white since "Jaws" and are helping to educate the public that sharks are far more at risk from humans _ pollution and fishing nets _ than the other way round.

Although naturally aggressive, great white sharks are intelligent and don't regard swimmers and surfers as natural prey, she said. And she said most attacks were probably the result of a chance encounter rather than the desire to kill.

"They are very confident, curious animals," Kock said. "If they don't know what something is, they give an exploratory bite or nudge."

Kock said there is much room for improvement. But she is generally supportive because the industry encourages environmental awareness among visitors and helps promote research into a creature about which relatively little is known.

"South Africa is one of the best places in the world to see great white sharks so why shouldn't people be allowed to see them," she said.