> > Again no disrespect to your opinion, Rich, but I need more more than a > > tidbit to make an informed decision about dragging my scooter to the shore > > in N. Calif the next time I go. > > I would certainly hope that you wouldn't base any serious decisions on a > single tidbit. It took dozens of tidbits for me to start leaning in one > direction on the shark-scooter issue. Some hard data might be obtained from the results of a test of an electronic shark net by researchers in South Africa. I think it was in Durban that they replaced a portion of a standard shark net protecting a beach with an electronic shark repulsion system. The developers figured that if stories of sharks being attracted by electric fields were true, then possibly a field could be generated that would annoy the sharks and repel them. Rich may know more details about this. It was not a simple cattle prod approach because that would take too much power. The TV video report I saw showed researchers dropping an antenna wire in a tank with a great white. They tried various frequencies until they found some that seemed to annoy the shark. They then put food in the water and were able to drive the shark away from the food when they turned the transmitter on. The idea was to replace the nets that are expensive and get damaged easily by wave action with a wire strung along the periphery of the beach. The wire had short lengths of wire hanging down into the water every few feet and was connected to electronics that generated the electrical signals. Sorry I don't have more specifics. The report said shark attacks along South African and Austrailian beaches are a significant problem, and shark nets aren't entirely effective. Evidently having great whites snacking on swimmers is bad for the tourist trade and a lot of the smaller beach towns couldn't afford to put up nets. Rick
Navigate by Author:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Subject Search Index]
[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]
[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]