just saw this, didn’t see another thread, so I thought I toss it up: http://www.sharkmitigation.com/
Sounds wild, the suits look… not sure what to think of it…I thought sharks mostly feed at night, they use scent and not vision, but that video is contrary. I also thought they roll their eys back into their head when they are a few feet from biting–or maybe a few species. ?
The black and white Pattren has been used for sometime now in South Africa A zebra striped sticker is applied to the bottom of your board. I’m not sure how well that works. I have never seen any demonstrations of the their zebra patten at work.
From reading the web site seems that this approach has some real science behind it.
There is some video of scientist placing a surfboard in The water of a known great white Breading ground. It did not take long for a Shark to attack the Board. A Surfboard on the surface looks a lot like a tasty Seal to a Shark.
There are other shark deterrents out there. like a surf leash that admits an electronic pulse that interferes with the sharks electronic sensory system. It is expensive at about $500.00 Then again if you are in an area that is known to be shaky might be a small price to pay for pace of mind.
It seems that most attacks on surfers come from below while paddling on the board. How is the shark to see or be disrupted by the pattern? Might be good for divers and such or better applied to the bottom of the board? Mike
I’ve see some jailhouse/zebra patterns on Barry Snyder’s boards…high contrast patterns, they look cool I think.
Why not just add electronic deterrents on bouys near populated breaks? …Dolphins with friggin’ lasers on their heads.
might be related but my brother and I were talking about this a couple weeks ago and thought that you’d want your board to be painted on the bottom to look like the bottom of an Orca whale.
seems like nothing wants to have anything to do with an Orca
sharks included.
the probably are the true apex predator(or giant squd) out there not the great white
Looks like the banding patterns on a number of sea snakes. The Orca pattern makes some sense too. Hmmmmm, Greg Noll never got bit! Must be something to it.
…yeah! and CedarAlaia’s orca board. I want to make a board like this guy did, it’s badass and definitely looks fun. Free Willy! http://www.swaylocks.com/comment/1464986/Re-huck-shortest-nose-riding-longboard
OK Here is the problem with doing the Orca. Shark swimming along sees what looks like a small Orca . Shark thinks OK time for Pay back. Then There is the Problem of Momma Orca thinking hay who’s that sitting on my KID! In either case Your soggy toast.
With a Sea Snake pattern you might have a problem with a near sighted sea Snake getting Romantic. Now that could be very awkward.
artz, bro, classic. cracking me up. Hay, who’s that sitting on my kid! haha!
…idea: anchor giant fake orcas outside the break, chain em like 25 feet down. Sounds creepy, and it is if your a great white. Ha!
two attacks in two days
maybe it was the flossie’s electrical distrurbance of the atmosphere
or just puuloa getting back
they did have an ulua contrest overthe weekend at haubush with lines and campers everywhere
http://www.staradvertiser.com/s?action=login&f=y&id=217893721
this one was less than 60 yards off shore at a very heavily populated beach whteplains/officer beach ful off beginners and kids.
i was out 100-200 yards offshore at that same spot sunday evening pretty much sitting by my self
looks like Chandler’s (GG) on the bandwagon already
just read on The Surfer Magazine web site that Reunion Island has banded all surfing and off shore swimming due to resent shark activities and 3 deaths by Shark attack. They are going to Cull about 80 Sharks most Shark experts say this will do little to solve the problem.
I have been reading about some electronic devices as well as the wet suit and board patterns.
I guess if i were surfing in known sharky waters I would be painting my Board black and White. The electronic device called Shark Shield is expensive. It is attached to your board with an antenna that admits a weal signal that effects a Sharks electronic sensory system. at around $700. Then again losing an arm or leg for that matter your life is also a high cost to pay. I was reading on the BBC a test was done on the Black and White wet-suit using a dummy There is a joke there but Im going to pass. Anyway one dummy had a regular black wet-suit and another with the Black and white. Sharks ignored the black and white and were more then happy to show their stuff on the black wet-suit.
HEY Gang! Shark Week is coming up!
yea sharks,
we know all about them
when you grow up surfing a spot named after them
you better be comfortable in their presence
funny yeah
one usually would get caught in our fish nets
we would always try and free them
but sometimes we were too late or they were too tangled
so we ate the rest and left the fin
cube it soak it in milk or coconut milk
season and leave it in the fish box to dry
better than cheetos for snack time
otherwise good white/blue crab trap bait too…
we used to hang these up on a tree next to the sighn
so everyone would be reminded what they were out paddling into
no one was scared back then until the movie Jaws came out
Seems obvious that if they haven’t tested, documented and demonstrated the validity of this idea by at least some practical scientific method, it’s probably not legit.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_15801580 (Kayaker’s striped kayak is attacked)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVSXGrLl9-E (Shark attacks some kind of bait - electronic? - while a banded sea snake’s also on the bait)
http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com/2013/07/shark-repelling-wetsuits-look-cool-but-are-they-really-safer.html (end of article mentions Tiger sharks actively prefer to feed on sea snakes, documents some of the silly incongruities in wetsuit designers’ ideas about what sharks do and don’t eat, e.g. venomous lionfish)
An obvious experiment to make would be to paint a surfboard or a wooden seal outline and subject it to testing in the same situations & places where scientists use silhouette lures to trigger shark strikes (e.g. Ano Nuevo, Farallons, etc.).
I’m not going to hold my breath for the company or companies to do that.
Yeah: found this: http://sharkyear.com/2013/shark-repelling-wetsuit.html – a thread where a “Martin Graf” engages someone who seems to be a company rep of some kind in the comments section, and the rep embarrasses herself/himself, and more or less implies they’re never going to subject their “scientifically studied” ideas to real testing in a shark feeding ground.
Batfich
You did not read the links provided by Vaeske . The wet suits that were shown n the link were designed with the aid of of Biologst that specialise in Shark vision from a university in Australia. There have been test by creditable Institutes In Austrailia and in South Africa. They are continuing to test. It is good to have healthy scientific debate on the subject. You can watch a test in the link. Shark Shield the electronic device has also tested their product. The shark Shield is used by the Austalian Navy scuba divers.
I do not think anything is ever going to be a 100% safe foolproof repellant for sharks. One thing that was pointed out about the wet-suit is that in murky water it is less effective.
Now the Shark Lady to me seems to be a well intended naive lady that has somehow gotten her message out there.
kayakers and Surfers look like big tasty seals to sharks. There is a video out there of a surfboard floating in the water off the Farrallon Islands. A Great white took a hugh chunk out of the board. The demonstration was to show that a Surfer does in fact look like a Great Whites favorite meal. The Natural food chain of the Oceans is unbalanced massive over fishing is taking away Sharks normal sources of Food. More and more humans are using the Oceans recreation There by placing more humans in contact with Sharks.
The Farrallons are a breading Ground for Great Whites They They travel down the coast of and around Cabo into The Gulf of Mexico.
Right now all The information on these Products is confusing. I sincere hope that they keep testing and researching products That offer some protection for Surfers and others that use The Oceans.
Given the varieties of sharks out in the wild, their varied diets and exposure, their varied ways of & reasons for attacking humans, it’s easy to explain why people are confused. The question is why the argumentation on the suit’s behalf is confused. The reason commercial interests are confused seems to be that they’re commercial interests.
Running tests in GWS hunting grounds where a known, successful strike-lure (seal or surfboard silhouette) is used by a knowledgeable shark expert to encourage strikes is just not that complicated, really, is it? Document strike rates of a lure, paint it, then document strike rates again, taking into account what falls under “other things being equal” between the two trials. You could make a phone call to Sean Van Sommeran and he’d probably have it done by the end of October. There’re probably other researchers already licensed that’d be willing to help.
But we’re not going to see tests like that, despite their obvious potential for use in ad campaigns. It’s not hard to figure out why.
Well…I was inspired to read a little more. Still haven’t come across any sane or convincing argumentation or documentation for the suits, as far as recent hype for use or consumption by surfers. Here’s a perfect example of how the existing, irresponsible lit is ridiculous:
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-07/invisibility-wetsuits-keeps-sharks-bay
What’s ridiculous:
2. The Shaun Collin, shark expert’s resume and expertise are declared (valid or not, who knows, it ends up being incidental).
3. We’re told the suits were tested on Tiger sharks, without humans in the suits (never mind that sharks hunt by several senses, among them electro-location, as this ends up being incidental as well).
4. We’re not told the results or any details of the tests, but we ARE told they weren’t tested on GWS’s (wasn’t safety concern about GWS attacks a primary reason for the article in the first place?).
5. We’re told the suits are now available for sale so you can go in those GW shark infested waters with a sense of security that may or may not be valid (who’s not a fan of that?).
It’s a testament to the times that we live in that so many articles like this are posted around the web including on major news agencies’ own editorially controlled content pages, and that so few of us seem to have the critical tools to notice they’re ridiculous, or are just for some reason embarrassed or afraid to say so. Fraudulence and fraudulent intent harms us all, in all its forms.