Your chance to go shark cage diving – through the lens of a new short film

You’ve probably heard of shark cage diving. It’s that bucket-list activity that you can do in the remote and magnificent Neptune Islands Group Marine Park at the entrance to Spencer Gulf in South Australia – one of only a handful of places in the world that offers this unique experience.

But did you also know that thanks to a collaboration between government, scientists and the cage diving industry, South Australia’s shark cage diving is also a leading example of international best-practice for nature-based tourism, underpinned by South Australia's White Shark Tour Licensing Policy?

You can learn more about this multi-million dollar eco-tourism sector by watching the new short film, Great White World.

About Great White World

Commissioned by National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia, Great White World features conservationists Valerie Taylor (OAM) and Andrew Fox, and UK celebrity Andrew Brady, and aims to create awareness about great white sharks and the wider ecosystem they live within.

It also provides an insight into what a shark tour is like and showcases the Neptune Islands Group Marine Park and highlights the amazing research that underpins South Australia's White Shark Tour Licensing Policy.

This is an important policy that sets rules and guidelines to ensure the Neptune Islands Group Marine Park, the great white shark, and its precious marine ecosystem will continue to be cared for, and the state’s shark cage diving industry remains sustainable.

Watch the film:

How important is the industry?

Neptune Islands is the only established great white shark tourism site in Australia, and one of only a handful in the world.

Three adventure tour companies – Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions, Adventure Bay Charters and Calypso Star Charters – are permitted to undertake white shark tourism at the Neptune Islands.

Wildlife tourism plays an important role in ocean awareness through education and experience.

Customers on these tours have an expectation that they will come away from the tour with greater knowledge of white sharks and the wider marine ecosystem they live in.

Rodney Fox pioneered the development of South Australia’s great white shark tourism industry in the early 1970s with the sector now contributing more than $10 million to the state economy annually, and supporting about 70 jobs.

Shark cage diving is just one bucket list activity that you can cross off in South Australia’s national parks. Read our story to find out what else to add to your list:29 must-do adventures in South Australia’s national parks.