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It has been long time ago the story between sharks and people of Indonesia began, not only due to annual pre-historic ritual pelagic hunting in Lamalera (which is considered as an exclusion from the conservation program, as the only limited legalized pelagic hunting in Indonesia) but also the variety of shark inclusion in Indonesia culture. Surabaya, second biggest city in Indonesia is one of the City that it coats of arm shown both Crocodile and Shark in fighting. In some area in Indonesia, sharks are consumed as food, in Medan, East Java, and some other places.

Meanwhile, in some area, Sharks by culture is protected, for example if fishermen catch sharks it is believed that bad luck will prevail on them. Easternmost of Indonesia, Papua, especially in the near shore villages, sharks was known as one of their Gods. Some of batik patterns in Madura, Cirebon has select shark as their main figure.

In modern era, due to its declining population, Government of Republic of Indonesia releases several regulation to protect sharks, among these regulations are:

Ministry of Marine and Fisheries Regulation No. 59/Permen-KP/2015 that banned all the export of all parts of Oceanic White Tip (Carcharhinus longimanus) and Hammerhead Sharks (Sphyrna sp.)

Ministry of Marine and Fisheries Decree No. 18/Kepmen-KP/2013 that states Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus) as a protected animal in Indonesia

Ministry of Marine and Fisheries Regulation No. 30/Permen-KP/2012 that mandates of releasing of Thresher Shark (Alopias sp.) alive when it was inadvertently caught.

Government Regulation No. 7 / 1999 that states Saw Sharks (Pristis sp.) as the protected animal in Indonesia

Shark Diving Indonesia, already starts visual counting on sharks in Morotai (since 2013) and Derawan (since 2016) in order to support the conservation effort of sharks.