The waters adjoining its shore are notable as a place to view great white sharks to the extent that it was both a popular gamefishing and shark cage diving venue during the twentieth century, and was used to film footage for Blue Water White Death and Jaws.

The island has enjoyed protected area status since 1900 and it has been part of the Sir Joseph Banks Group Conservation Park since 1989.

[2] Access to the island/reef system which is subject to permission by the responsible government agency due to the island group's protected area status (refer below) is either via boat or helicopter.

[6] Dangerous Reef was formed about 8400 years ago following the rise of sea levels at the start of the Holocene.

[9] Australian sea lions were seen in "immense numbers" by sailors on the yacht Wanderer, which passed by Dangerous Reef in May 1885.

"[10] Australian sea lions (referred to as "hair seals" at the time) were abundant at Dangerous Reef in 1904.

[11] Photographs from the 1907 show Australian sealions and cormorants inhabiting the reef[12] and are supported by written accounts.

[23] A written account of a landing party there noted the dominance of Australian sealions and relatively few Long-nosed fur seals.

[30] Dangerous Reef is one of the island sites from which guano was mined under licence from the South Australian Government prior to 1919.

It was a popular site for gamefishing[34][35][36] from early in the 20th century[37][38] until 1997 when the great white shark became a protected species in Australia.

[41] Notable gamefishers who visited the waters around Dangerous Reef included the American novelist, Zane Grey, in 1939 and the Australian radio personality, Jack Davey, in 1952.

[45] Great White of Dangerous Reef, hosted by game-fisherman Malcolm Florence was filmed there in the late 1980s.

[50] In more recent years, shark cage diving for tourists has been offered near the Neptune Islands instead, with tours departing from Port Lincoln.