Can Adam West Save Us?

Where has all this shark hate and cull thing some from? Granted I do not have to share the water with them (to my knowledge), living and surfing in Europe means that it is not something that I think about when I go for a surf. That's not to say the men in grey are not there, it just means they are well fed, or maybe prefer less hairy humans.

What happened to Mick Fanning on live webcast at J Bay has really heightened the public’s awareness about the possibility of a shark attack being real. Add to that the growing popularity of water sports, such as surfing, and you have more humans in the water than ever. The shark 'problem' has been blamed on all manor of things around the world, from overfishing of the sharks natural prey to the increase in chumming and cage diving to a ban on killing sharks. I have heard so many theories and they all seem plausible but none of them seem to offer a non violent or radical solution. The one thing in my opinion is to remember that we are in their territory, we are choosing to put ourselves in a natural environment where we are not top of the food chain any more. It would be different if a shark broke down my front door and started eating my son, but that’s just not the case.

So what can we do. Enter the deterrents. For a while now different companies have been developing active in-water shark deterrents. I am not talking about Adam West's Batman Aerosol shark deterrent but some things that are a little more scientific.

Shark Shield is a company that has been developing shark repellent devices through active research for over 20 years. The basic idea is a small device that fits on the back of your board and emits an electronic field that encases the surfer. When a shark comes close to the field it experiences light muscle spasms and is immediately repelled. Apparently the experts say this does not harm the shark in any way but instead it causes enough discomfort to knock it out of 'attack mode'. Check out the demo.

Yep, that looks like it works. There is one small catch – by the time you buy all the add-ons to the main device it adds up to cost about the same as two new surfboards, and while you could argue that if you are dead or loose a leg then surfing on those new boards will be difficult, it is still a lot of wonga for the average surfer. There are also the performance issues, people say that the extra weight on the back of your board can be noticed... here is what Tom Carroll had to say about it.

I think he sums it up nicely there, well done Tom. So there we have it, I am no closer to an answer and don’t have to be until I hear of the first ever fatality in European waters or I choose to go surfing somewhere a little more snappy. The moral of the story is to remember that sharks are not evil predator beasts but just hungry and curious and as I have said we are in their world. Keep an eye on the deterrents market, one thing is for sure there will be a lot more people trying to develop active deterrents after Mick’s dice with death.