A meeting in Invercargill last month between the Department of Conservation, two shark-diving operators and a paua divers' representative, was considered by all parties to have been constructive.
One of the operators, Sawyers Bayf fisherman Peter Scott, has built an alloy cage which he suspends over the back of his fishing boat near the Muttonbird Islands north of Halfmoon Bay township.
So far, only he and a few camera operators have ventured into the underwater cage for a close-up experience with the great whites that frequent the area.
But he wants to broaden the venture to include tourists and the public.
Southern Islands area manager for the Department of Conservation Andy Roberts told the Otago Daily Times he hoped a permitting system and a code of conduct could be agreed so a "framework" was "up and running by next year".
In June last year, paua divers expressed fears a tourist operation would attract more sharks, change their behaviour and endanger divers' lives.
Paua representative John Hildebrand said shark diving was "a whole new ball game" but the meeting was "not acrimonious".
"Everybody voiced their opinion and, for me, it felt like there were no major problems at all, providing we work through the finer [details]."
The divers wanted controls on who could carry out the shark diving and controls on how they operated - particularly how operators would attract sharks to their underwater cages.
"We don't want to get bitten. Our biggest concern is that there could be a change in behavioural patterns."
White sharks turn up in greatest numbers in Foveaux Strait from February until April although it was believed to be "quite a small population".
Diving with white sharks was a big industry in South Africa, Mexico and South Australia.
Mr Scott is just back from the island of Guadelupe, off the Pacific coast of Mexico, where tourists each pay $4000 to go underwater to see the sharks.
