CHRIS HEMSWORTH (VOICEOVER): I think
it's fair to say however good we get at keeping humans
and sharks apart in the ocean, there will
always be moments when we meet.
[music playing]
And in those worst case scenarios when sharks bite,
is there anything that can be done?
Charlie Huveneers is a scientist who's thought
more about this than most.
Hey, mate.
How are you?
I'm not too bad, thanks.
CHRIS HEMSWORTH (VOICEOVER): For several years
he's been looking at ways of deterring
sharks that decide to attack.
Is your research and line of work due to your passion
and love for sharks or passionate and love for humans
or who are you--
who are you more invested in?
CHARLIE HUVENEERS: It depends--
It's OK to say sharks too.
--it depends in what situations.
But, yeah, it's a combination.
It's really I've always been interested
in sharks since I'm a kid.
Yeah.
CHARLIE HUVENEERS: And, yeah, the fascination for sharks
just turned into a real inquest in--
into science and understanding the sharks
better so that we can actually help
in providing a safer environment for some people
but also for sharks.
Yeah.
Are you going into the field soon to test
any of those deterrents?
You know, actually we-- we're going next week.
Well, good luck with it.
CHARLIE HUVENEERS: Thanks.
[music playing]
CHRIS HEMSWORTH (VOICEOVER): Charlie and his colleagues
from Flinders University in Adelaide
are heading into the seas off South Australia.
[music playing]
On board they're testing the latest shark deterrent
and protection technologies.
So what we've seen is that in the recent years
there has been an increase in the number of shark bite
globally, including in Australia.
And this has resulted in a lot of interest in the devices
to try to reduce those risks.
[water gurgling]
[long-nosed fur seal grunting]
CHRIS HEMSWORTH (VOICEOVER): The team
have sailed to the Neptune Islands, a hotspot
for great whites.
The sharks come here to prey on Australia's largest
colony of long-nosed fur seals.
[long-nosed fur seal grunting]
So it's the perfect place to test
products designed to take advantage
of sharks' very unusual senses.
There's only a small number of animals that have this ability
to detect electric field and sharks
have it through these black dots called ampullae of Lorenzini.
The idea behind this electric field-based deterrent
is that they will produce such a strong pulse that it will
overwhelm the sensory organ and make the shark basically
move away from the source.
CHRIS HEMSWORTH (VOICEOVER): The aim
is to develop a safer surfboard with an electrical shark
deterrent built into it.
This produces an electric field
through two electrodes which are positioned
just underneath the board.
And this is, kind of, a replica of a surfboard.
This has produced a field which is transmitted
to this electrode and creates a bit
of a barrier around the surfboard, which in theory
should be deterring the sharks.
[music playing]
CHRIS HEMSWORTH (VOICEOVER): To test the theory,
the experiment compares a sharks reactions
to a board with the electrical device switched
on to a board with it off.
[music playing]
But getting robust data means repeating
the process many times over.
[music playing]
Over hundreds of previous trials,
the team have captured remarkable footage
of sharks in action.
[commotion]
First they recorded what happened to a baited board
with the device turned off.
It's interesting that we do have a bait
just underneath that board.
WOMAN: It's swimming as we would expect to see
it swimming around the bait.
[music playing]
CHRIS HEMSWORTH (VOICEOVER): And then
what happened to the sharks when the device was turned on?
OK.
So that was a pretty obvious flinch.
CHARLIE HUVENEERS: He's coming back now.
That kind of flinch or reaction, we didn't see that when
the deterrent was turned off.
[music playing]
WOMAN: And you can see the really
obvious flinching in the gills as well and the jaw gaping.
[music playing]
CHARLIE HUVENEERS: Wow, look at that one.
So that one came really from down below and it was only
within half a meter.
Overall there was a 60% reduction
in the proportion of bait being taken,
so a 60% reduction in shark bites.
[music playing]
CHRIS HEMSWORTH (VOICEOVER): If the eight people killed
by sharks in Australia in 2020 had
been able to use an electric deterrent like this,
then five may still be alive.
[music playing]
Products like these are promising
as we may be able to reduce fatalities in the future
or without harming the sharks.
[music playing]