NARRATOR: 40 miles off the coast of South Australia, shark
scientist Doctor Charlie Huveneers and PhD student
Madeline Riley investigate the best
way to fend off a shark attack.
The answer may be to prevent it in the first place.
And then we just need a few base ready.
And you're good to go.
All right, sounds good.
Let's hope the sharks stick around.
You first!
NARRATOR: Their theory, that the sharks ampulae of Lorenzini
can be used against it.
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They're testing a new shark deterrent that does just that.
So sharks are capable of detecting
minute electric fields.
And the idea of this electric deterrent
is to transmit a very strong electric field that
will overwhelm that sense of the shark,
so that as the shark gets too close,
it's kind of nearly receiving a punch in the face.
And the shark just basically deterred.
NARRATOR: There's a lot riding on this test.
Most shark deterrents are designed
to protect just one person.
This one, which has been tested for two years,
is much more ambitious.
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If all goes well, it'll be powerful enough to keep sharks
out of a section of the ocean 25 feet
in diameter by 50 feet deep without harming any swimmers.
That's bigger than most swimming pools.
How it works is this big, white thing is a float.
It just floats on top of the water.
This black module is where the power comes from.
And then underneath, we've got a 4-meter long electrode, which
actually emits the electric field, which
theoretically deters a shark.
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NARRATOR: The first thing they'll need
to test the deterrent, sharks.
Within moments, a 13-foot great white turns up.
All right, we've got a shark coming in at the back.
NARRATOR: And seems curious about the device.
A large piece of bait hangs near the electrode.
If the shark's hungry, it'll have
to fight through the electric field to get to it.
The team will film the shark's reaction then analyze it after.
The shark circles, clearly intrigued by the tasty morsel
floating in the ocean.
Coming back around.
NARRATOR: Scientists monitor the action
as best they can from the deck.
They know that the entire test is riding on this moment.
Investigators wait to see if the great white
will break through the constant electric current.
The shark gets closer and closer with each pass
but doesn't bite.
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The team reviews the footage, looking for the telltale muscle
spasm that signals that the electrical current affected
the shark.
Oh, did you see that?
Oh, you can actually literally see
the pectoral fin flicking down.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: It's a subtle movement,
but the slight flick of the shark's pectoral fin
tells the research team the deterrent seems to work.
That first flexing of the pectoral fin,
that's a standard reaction to an electric field
that we've seen in the past.
Yeah.
We're in the really early stages of this testing.
But if we get more really good trials like we've had today,
then we'll get a clearer understanding of how effective
this deterrent actually is.
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