Once bitten, forever demonised - Telegraph Western Australia is learning to fear the fin after a surfer was killed by a great white shark on Saturday, the fifth attack in 10 months. Authorities have closed the beaches, issued a kill-on-sight policy for large great whites in the area, and are still trying to recover 24-year-old Ben Linden's remains. But a call by the region's fisheries minister for the federal government to scrap the great white shark's protected status - in order to protect the Australian tourism industry - has met with alarm from shark experts. "We are all dreadfully upset to hear about these attacks, and each one is a tragedy, but we cannot blame wild animals for doing what wild animals do," says Richard Peirce, chairman of the Shark Trust. He believes that their bloodthirsty reputation, enshrined in celluloid by the terrifying 1975 film Jaws, is undeserved, pointing out that hippopotamuses and elephants each claim more victims annually, and most of those deaths go unreported. In 2011, he says, there were 14 recorded fatal shark attacks. None the less, the image of a fin prowling the waters - like that released last week showing a kayaker off Cape Cod frantically paddling to escape - fuels misconceptions about the relationship between sharks and people. Most reports of a shark attack are accompanied by speculation that the animals are becoming a greater menace, possibly because there are more of them (one guess at the great white's population is between 3,000 and 4,000, but nobody really knows), because they are swimming closer to shore, or because a drop in their usual food supply has led to a growing appetite for human flesh. But according to the Shark Trust, there is no reliable evidence as to whether the population is on the rise or in decline, and the other explanations sound false. "While sharks do respond to triggers, such as splashing about or discarded fish catches; they have been coming to shore for centuries," says Mr Peirce. And humans don't really feature on the shark menu, because unlike a blubbery seal, we are a mix of sinew, gristle, rubbery wetsuit and surfboard. Attacks are usually due to mistaken identity. A shark's mouth is an exploratory organ and it often has a 'bite and spit" approach. Unfortunately, a bite from a 13ft great white shark can be a fatal experience, and once blood is in the water the shark will respond to that. What has changed, he thinks, is the relationship of humans to water - we are increasingly invading shark territory. Every year, more of us are using the water for recreational purposes, such as surfing, swimming, sea kayaking, snorkelling and diving. And wetsuits mean that we can spend longer in the water than we used to, and go to different areas. I used to be the only lunatic in the sea in January; today, when I look out of my window in north Cornwall in January, I can see 30 or 40 surfers. So the potential for shark-human interaction is greater. We wouldn't go wandering among the lions in Kruger National Park, yet we are quite happy to intrude on shark territory. The great white shark (Carcharadon carcharias) - which is found off the coast of such countries as Australia, Japan, the US and South Africa - is a titan of the seas; it can grow to 19 feet (6m) and weigh two tons. It has 300 serrated teeth, and a sense of smell so acute it can detect blood from three miles away. The fish is listed as a protected species under Cites (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), to which Australia is a signatory. The species is not regarded as threatened with extinction, but enjoys the second-highest level of protection, meaning that its trade is regulated to prevent population decline. Thirty-eight million shark fins are traded each year to satisfy Asian demand for shark's fin soup (though some sharks are also accidentally caught by gill nets). Mr Peirce believes that sharks are demonised disproportionately because they play to three great terrors: our fear of being eaten alive; of being attacked "out of our element" (in the sea); and the fear of the unknown lurking in the waters beneath. He says: "Ask anyone if they would rather be attacked by a lion or a shark and most would say lion, because at least you'd have your feet on the ground. Sharks hit the most basic human fear buttons - but our reaction to them is completely irrational.