With the recent shark attacks in Florida, many wonder if there’s a way for humans to enjoy the ocean without fear of attack. Some Florida scientists think they may have an answer that can save both humans and sharks.
Wild sharks were fascinated with a camera because of the tiny electrical current from the batteries. Well, we could have used some shark repellent to make us feel more at ease. Dr. Sonny Gruber, the University of Miami’s shark expert, heads up world class research in Bimini, Bahamas. They’ve proven that sharks really, really hate or fear the smell of a rotting shark carcass.
University of Miami shark expert Sonny Gruber says, “And so we have been extracting certain moieties and chemicals out of these dead carcasses, purifying them and testing them on those Caribbean reef sharks…and it worked, it worked very well.”
Research video shows sleeping baby sharks, they’re safer to test, given a whiff of shark repellent. Sharks blasted with the repellent quickly flee.
The Navy wanted a repellent because sharks were chewing submarine equipment, but with shark attacks back in the news this summer, the company marketing the repellent says it could be available by next year, something lifeguards can throw in the water during an attack. Eventually they hope to make a bracelet for swimmers and divers, maybe even a sun block mixed with shark repellent.
Shark repellent could be popular in protecting humans from sharks. But, in an ironic twist, researchers say a repellent could save tens of thousands of sharks, at a time when shark populations are plummeting.
100 million sharks are killed every year. Studies say often by fishermen after tuna or swordfish, but accidentally catching sharks instead. If you put the shark repellent on the bait, the tuna and swordfish won’t care, but sharks will say no thanks.
Sonny Gruber, “If I can protect those bait from sharks biting them, but the fishes bite them, I can save 40-50 thousand sharks a day.”
National-NBC
