Sydney surfer Michael James displays the new SeaChange 'Shark Shield' shark deterrent system mounted near the tail of his surfboard on Sydney's Bondi Beach.(AFP/File/Torsten Blackwood)
Posted on 07/15/2004 10:09:28 AM PDT by martin_fierro
Aussie surfers testing boards fitted with electronic shark repellents
Wed Jul 14, 1:19 PM ET
SYDNEY (AFP) - Surfboards fitted with electronic shark repellents are being tested and will be available by the year's end, its manufacturers said, just days after a local man died in an attack off Australia's west coast.
South Australian-based SeaChange technology said the devices emit an electronic field that surrounds the surfboard and affects special receptors on a shark's snout.
The receptors connect to the shark's central nervous system and when it first encounters the electronic field it feels some discomfort. If it proceeds the electrodes will induce muscle spasms, SeaChange said.
SeaChange has developed two devices -- a short antennae which trails at the back of the board and an oval-shaped electrode mounted underneath.
The technology comes too late for 29-year-old Bradley Smith, who was attacked by two white pointers Sunday while surfing near Margaret river, south of Perth.
Fellow surfers saw the sharks attack but by the time they got Smith, of Shoalwater, south of Perth, back to shore he was dead.
SeaChange is claiming the devices as a world first but concedes the technology was devised in South Africa.
"The South Africans invented the technology and then made a mistake," said company chairman Rod Hartley. "They brought out a product which was a huge, cumbersome thing which no one could wear.
"It was proved effective by abalone divers who strapped them to their cages, that was in 1995 and then nothing happened."
In 1999, Hartley travelled to South Africa and negotiated a world exclusive licence for the technology.
The prototype boards are being tested by Australian surfers.
"All found that 'Shark Shield' made them feel much safer and improved their enjoyment of surfing," SeaChange said.
Sydney surfer Michael James displays the new SeaChange 'Shark Shield' shark deterrent system mounted near the tail of his surfboard on Sydney's Bondi Beach.(AFP/File/Torsten Blackwood)
Sounds liek it's a success... no surfers have been injured or lost to electronic sharks since it's introduction. 'Course, the Great Whites have been feasting on them...
Of course, it's completely ineffective against the Land Shark.
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