Electric pulse device 'SharkGuard' helps stop sharks becoming bycatch

Electricity and water doesn't mix, just ask the great white shark chewing down on an electricity cable at the end of Jaws 2.

Then, to paraphrase Chief Brody, your jaws will open wide when you hear how the first trials of SharkGuard – in Amity you say Gahd - technology, by the University of Exeter in the UK, are already showing to have a huge impact on stopping the accidental catching of sharks.

New Scientist reported how numbers of blue sharks and pelagic rays being caught on French fishing boats, which were part of the trial, had been drastically reduced, by over 90 per cent in the case of blue sharks.

And that reduction had zero impact on the targeted tuna catches that the sharks would have been part of, meaning it’s great news for sharks below and man above.

The SharkGuard device is small, but it is a big deterrent against sharks and rays that risk becoming bycatch

SharkGuard lets out small electric impulses on a device that is fixed to longline fishing rigs that touch the areas around the sensitive mouth and snout of sharks and repel them with a shock from a small battery.

SharkGuard devices reduce bycatch of sharks and rays - credit Fishtek Marine

Such a change would not happen overnight, but that could mean far more sharks in our oceans, which is great news for sharks.

Of course, there would be those that ponder if there are more sharks out there would that translate to more shark attacks and encounters?

Words by Dean Newman

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