As I told OftenBen, I wouldn't consider that respect myself, but cautious common sense. I don't disagree. But my point is that paying attention to a shark's presence while near one is not done out of respect either, nor is it necessarily done out of fear. As I pointed out above, it's something done out of a sense of awareness of the situation. My point is also that respect isn't part of the equation when it comes to deciding whether or not to stop the "shark cull". Killing sharks is having an effect on the underwater ecosystem. If it didn't have such an effect, and they really were such a danger to humanity, then by all means we could kill them en masse with no harm done. But because people care about the planet, they'd realize that killing sharks does disrupt the ecosystem, and would hopefully stop doing it for unfounded, overhyped risks such as attacks on humans. Respect for the dangers of powerful creatures never comes into it at all, only respect for the Earth in general. Hmm. I have a healthy respect for sharks, because if I am stupid, they will hurt me.
Mindlessly killing sharks, which was -- incredibly -- somebody's solution, is something you do because of fear, not respect.