The Shark Deterrent Wetsuit has been 100% Successful to date, Scientist now believing that sharks have a strong smell for FASHION DISASTERS

interesting idea on the TedX talk... its a shame that the state government has invested $6M in the shark cull when it could have been used to continue the good work of these chaps.

There is a charity program somewhere that i saw once, i'm pretty sure its run by Richard Branson, where they said right from the start that they didn't want to pretend they knew the best way to spend the money. They knew that clever people are out there, so they invited "tenders" to receive the money and do good in the world. The organisation pooled together a heap of money and then they have a panel of sorts that people present to, and the best charitable ideas with most impact get grants to go and expand.

Perhaps the WA Government could have done a similar thing with their $6M of cash currently set aside for the shark cull. They could have put the feelers out globally. Invite people to come and test their shark-repellent ideas in WA and engage with local operators and scientists. There's plenty of free offfice space in West Perth at the moment. WA Gov't could have potentially put forward 10 x $400,000 Grants handed out now for a 12-18 month scientific program with the best 2 inventions awarded a $1M prize so they can roll it out commercially.

I for one have spent a lot less time in the ocean this last 2 years... imaginary sharks are everywhere!! I might be a bit braver with a seasnake wetsuit on.

Bring on the good ideas... we are a wealthy nation of (mostly) intelligent people, surely we can find better solutions than killing apex predators. Have we learned nothing in the last 200 years?

I heard a story years ago about a stripy suit that looked a bit like seasnakes that deterred sharks. But then when they tried it in another location (where there werent a lot of snakes) the sharks werent bothered. I seem to remember they were chumming up sharks and the inventor was actually in the water. He got out in a real hurry when the second sharks started showing a lot of interest.

I do think wet suits with higher visibility wouldnt be a bad idea for all sorts of reasons,

I've always avoided red in anything I wear in the water. Red in the animal world is like a neon sign saying = Injured!... eat it quick!

this topic reminded me of the doco a watched about zebras crossing the rivers full of crocs.

there are few vids on utube, like this one.
amazing stuff

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evlPanda said..Even the sharks will laugh at me.

Too busy laughing so they won't eat you mate.


I think its a good idea and it will be interesting to see where this research leads. Mind you i wear a fluro orange life jacket over the top of my wetsuit so the 'camouflage' one isn't going to work very well xD

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Macroscien said..

Ian K said..
, like an airbag.

That is interesting idea ! if we could in shark emergency deploy an airbag inside shark mouth !

I actually observed similar behavior already in nature. In my home aquarium .

Strange looking and fearsome Leaf Fish swallow / eat my newly purchased tinny Puffer Fish.

In few minutes Leaf Fish dropped dead and Puffer Fish swam of the mouth of the Leaf Fish alive and in good condition.
Just in seconds after been swallow Puffer Fish inflate itself blocking water access the suffocated Leaf fish.

Imagine this with spikes on it

Just found the perfect sail to go with the shark cammo wetsuit.
The Killer whale Sail.....If you spot a big pointer just drop your killer whale sail in the water and make whale sounds.....Gotta scare em off!

Have any windsurfers actually been eaten by a shark in Aus? I know there's been the knocked unconsious, then eaten overnight windsurfers and one in SA who just disappeared while sailing alone and they found his gear washed up with shark bites on his boom. But has anyone been actually eaten while sailing along or waterstarting (maybe the guy in SA)?.....so should we windsurfers be actually worried here in Aus?
Seems to be surfers and divers that they get confused with.

i've watched videos of sharks chomping at anchor chains, anchors, outboard motors, props, oars, bow of the boat, tennis balls, etc. a hungry shark is a hungry shark and probably doesn't care what you look like

if it stops the casual "chomp of curiosity", that's great