A wetsuit that prevents shark attacks: too good to be true?

Posted on 31 July 2013

Anybody who has spent an extended period of time surfing is familiar with the fear. It doesn’t matter how clear the water is or how deep you are. It doesn’t matter how fit you are, or what board you’re riding. It may not happen every time you paddle out, but sooner or later, you will find yourself out of easy contact with other people. You can have been riding waves in jovial, communal exhilaration with other stoked-jokers all day, not a care in the world, when suddenly you find yourself alone in the water and the fear hits. It might not be rational, and might not be caused by the sight of any real danger, but all of a sudden you remember that you are out of your element. Humans have not evolved to be quick or powerful in water, and if there happened to be a huge predator which was both of these things, in the depths below, you wouldn’t stand a chance.

It’s not a rational fear, and because of this, it usually isn’t crippling. You shrug it off, telling yourself you’d be more likely to die in a car crash than get munched by a shark. But if you happen to be one of the incredibly unlucky few who gets singled out, your vulnerability is undeniable (Close shave for shark divers in South Africa). This has always been part of the deal when it comes to spending time in the sea. A group of Australian scientists and money-making hopefuls are attempting, however, to by-pass evolution (why not after all!? Humans didn’t evolve to fly either, and that didn’t stop us) and provide us with a means of repelling sharks, simply by doing what we would otherwise – pulling on a wetsuit.

The people at Shark Attack Mitigation Systems have teamed up with the University of Western Australia to come up with what they are presenting as scientifically researched designs for wetsuits which will either make you hard for sharks to spot underwater, or appear dangerous to sharks at the surface. At first this seemed like a complete gimmick to me – conventional wisdom says that sharks attack surfers because they mistake them for prey (specifically seals). It seems difficult to imagine that a shark would see a surfer and mistake what would otherwise look like a seal, for something more threatening, by virtue of some stripes (especially if you consider what I presume would be a lack of detail in the colours of a surfer back-lit by the sun above). The stripes are very particular, and their intricacy is supposed to be what makes all the difference to a shark, which apparently has an acute ability to differentiate between shades, although it only sees in black and white.

Shark Attack Mitigation Systems Wetsuit shading

Photo by Shark Attack Mitigation Systems

Having had a look at SAMS’s website, two possibilities present themselves. Either the immediately over-the-top presentation of scientific formulas and language designed to convince you that they have come up with something groundbreaking has worked, and will dupe consumers into buying their product; or they have actually come up with something potentially groundbreaking, which will dupe their stated target.

The video of product testing evokes similarly mixed reactions from me. Being told that “governments around the world are at their wits’ end” and that “the only solution seems to be culling” just irritates me  – it seems manipulatively over-dramatic and probably false on both counts (I can’t imagine either Barry-OB or JZ losing sleep over shark attacks). On the other hand though, the footage of sharks pulling away from bait bags covered in the wetsuit material in question at the last minute, is considerably more convincing. The material pictured in the video below is that used for the Cryptic TM suit, designed to keep divers safe underwater.

 

 

My initial instinct is to say that the risk of shark attacks is just one of those unavoidable aspects to a thing like surfing. People take risks to do the things they love to do. Some snowboarders risk avalanches, sailors and hikers risk the chance of freak storms, downhill skaters risk unexpected motor vehicles and abrasive policemen. On the other hand, if something really can be done to reduce that risk, why not go for it? I remain skeptical until more proof of the efficacy of these suits has been provided.

More close shaves in the sea: Divers narrowly miss being swallowed by whales

Featured image from Shark Attack Mitigation Systems






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