Would eating more commercially caught sharks, or flake, make it safer to swim in the ocean?

The Whitsundays community is still reeling following the death of Daniel Christidis, 33, who died in hospital after being attacked by a shark while paddle-boarding at Cid Harbour last week.

It was the third shark attack at Cid Harbour off the coast of Airlie Beach since September.

But a commercial shark fisherman and marine expert both said increasing the number of sharks caught for consumption would not reduce the risk of shark attacks occurring.

Only two fishermen remain as active targeted shark fishers along the eastern Queensland coastline.

One of those, Mark Savins from Bowen in north Queensland, said despite calls for more fishermen to increase shark catches following the recent attacks, there was no market for large sharks.

"The last thing we want near or on a boat is a large shark," he said.

"We can't use it, it's dangerous, it wrecks gear — we just don't want it."

Larger sharks are undesirable for a commercial market, fisherman Mark Savins says. ( ABC Rural: Melanie Groves )

Commercial shark fishermen supply flake to the fresh fish market, which Mr Savins said had to meet specific standards.

"We look for the species, the size and quality," Mr Savins said.

"There's a sinew problem, when sharks get bigger they get tougher.

"There's all different grades and types of shark, qualities in meat that start from ones that look great but can't eat, up to the ones we keep."

Associate professor and marine expert from Bond university Daryl McPhee said the sharks that posed a risk to swimmers were not the same species that commercial fishermen targeted.

"The three species most responsible for shark bites globally, for fatalities, is the white shark, the tiger shark and the bull shark," Mr McPhee said.

"Around central Queensland there's not many white sharks, but there's tiger sharks and bull sharks, and those won't find a ready market.

"They're not particularly tasty, plus there's also an elevated risk of mercury in the flesh."

Shark populations on the rise

Despite reports of growing shark populations from fishermen, Mr McPhee said there were no statistics to prove it.

"But we have done a number of things to protect sharks, such as the over 30 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef that has no fishing areas," Mr McPhee said.

"If we assume that the no fishing zones work, one of the outcomes would always be more sharks."

Shark fishermen look for species, size and quality when fishing for sharks for human consumption. ( ABC Rural: Melanie Groves )

Mr Savins did not believe a decline in the fishing industry was related to the growing population of sharks.

"There were that few fishermen and that big an area — we never got near touching even a small percentage of it," he said.

A changing industry

While some sharks were still caught as by-catch in nets from commercial fishers, the number of targeted shark fishers had dropped significantly along the eastern coast of Queensland in recent years.

"They [the Government] cut our licenses in half, our net links in half, people lost crews, we couldn't paint our boats, guys went broke," Mr Savins said.

"It was sad, really sad."

Increased regulations and the allure of work in the mines were other reasons Mr Savins believed people were leaving the industry.

"[It's] just getting harder, people don't want to do it any more — it's as simple as that," he said.

"There's only the guys who have been in it for a while who want to do it anymore."

In 2016, World Wildlife Fund bought $100,000 worth of commercial shark fishing licenses in an effort to protect sharks in the Great Barrier Reef.

There are only two shark fishermen left on the east coast of Queensland. ( ABC Rural: Melanie Groves )

But Mr Savins said the buyout only managed to get rid of licences that were sitting idle.

"The licenses that got bought back were only in cupboards anyway, people weren't using them," he said.

Mr McPhee believed an increase in the shark fishing industry could be sustainably managed.

"We know what the maximum sustainable yield is, and we've got an estimate on precautionary level and we've got quite a conservative estimate of maximum sustainable yield, so sharks can be targeted within that."

