Shark shields for surfboards

Surfboards containing electronic shark shields would be available this Australian summer.

The devices emit an electronic field surrounding the surfboard which impacts on receptors in a shark's snout. The impact creates discomfort and if the shark continued into the field it would suffer muscle spasms, forcing it to retreat, the manufacturer, SeaChange Technology claimed recently.

SeaChange chairman Rod Hartley said the devices would be available this summer in two options - an antenna fixed to a surfboard, or surfboards with the antenna built in. The electronic field is created by two battery-powered electrode modules about 1 m apart, he said. The world-first technology is similar to shark deterrent leg straps, which SeaChange manufactures for divers. The straps are being used by Australian defence and police personnel. Hartley said the technology had initially been developed in South Africa. "The South Africans invented the technology and then 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.