A Perth diver who swam with a school of hammerhead sharks at the weekend is working to dispel people’s fear about the ocean predators.

Charlie Young, 26, spent hours free-diving 150m from shore at Point Peron in a marine sanctuary with about 25 sharks.

The music producer said he was at ease with the animals because he knew they were not a threat to him.

“There is absolutely no danger from this type of hammerhead and if you approach any type of shark in the right way there’s also no danger,” he said.

“Sharks are intrinsically no threat to us — I would encourage people to cage their fear and be a bit more open-minded.”

Young has dived for most of his life and until a few years ago was fearful of sharks, but research and experiences changed his perspective.

He recently worked with Hawaiian conservationists Ocean Ramsey and Juan Oliphant a documentary about shark-finning, which kills millions of sharks each year globally.

He said this taught him the importance of sharks to the world’s ecosystems and the best ways to approach them in the water.

“We are not their natural food source - most sharks out there eat squids, crustaceans and octopus - small, easy to catch animals, or great whites eat seals or sea lions,” he said.

“Sharks are at the top of the food chain, so if you take them away the populations under them can explode in ways that are not sustainable.”

Camera Icon Mr Young spent hours in the water about 150m off Point Peron swimming alongside the sharks.

Young explained that killing off shark species would result in trophic cascade — an ecological phenomenon where removing top predators leads to drastic changes to an ecosystem.

Phytoplankton, at the bottom of the food chain, produce more than half of the Earth’s oxygen, he said.

“If we take away sharks, the things that feed on these phytoplankton will increase and this directly takes away oxygen producing plankton, which we can not afford as a species,” he said.

He said people should respect shark’s status as predators and follow certain guidelines when interacting with them.

“Go swimming when there is good visibility in the water, minimise splashing and if you do come across a shark remain calm and keep eye contact with them,” he said.

“Keep your arms tucked in or by your side to avoid fingers looking like the shark’s food.”

Young said the main thing to avoid was appearing like prey, but if that was unavoidable it would be wise to wear a shark shield.

“Wearing a shark shield is a good idea for surfers,” he said.

“People ask why I don’t wear one, but I am in the water for a completely different reason — for a careful and considered interaction with sharks.

“Not just surfers but anyone in the water should be aware of not looking like their prey, I wear a green wetsuit for that reason.”

The sharks filmed from Young’s Go Pro are Scalloped Hammerheads, which were recently named as endangered.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature says more research is needed to estimate shark population levels.

Young said this was particularly the case with great whites, with some agencies saying there were only 4000 left in the world and others saying there were 10,000 in Australia alone.

“There needs to be a lot more research,” he said.

The diver has not swum with great whites and said he would need to have more experience swimming with larger sharks before he attempted to swim with the apex predators.

He said tiger sharks were far more placid than people thought and he hoped to swim with them when an opportunity presented itself.