Surfing Waves

I live in a majorly sharky area and my home break is a ledge that drops off into about 40 foot of water. one of my mates was eaten by a pointer a few years ago, and there is noahs spotted regularly. Ive been checking out info about surfing shark shields and are considering about buying one, so my question is... does anyone have one and what do you think about it? do you notice it when your surfing?

so no one uses the new surfing shark shield?

It would appear not.

KS

Those things certainly work at close range - saw some of the test vids on TV.

Apparently some scientists now reckon the magnetic field could well attract sharks from longer distances tho.

So it might be good to have one yourself. But it might be bad to be in the water near someone who deos, if you don't.

-doug

dougirwin13 wrote:Those things certainly work at close range - saw some of the test vids on TV.

Apparently some scientists now reckon the magnetic field could well attract sharks from longer distances tho.

So it might be good to have one yourself. But it might be bad to be in the water near someone who deos, if you don't.

-doug

That's pretty crazy. What is considered "close range"?

ive got a 2 hour surfing ankle unit, it took me a couple of surfs to get the nack of not getting a zap, but other than that i find it to be no worries. its only when the surf is really soft and crappy that i notice it on me.
the shark shield website answers most questions that you may have,and the faq dismisses the theory of a shark shield attracting sharks... but prepare for a heap of arguments if your going discuss this with some people.

i didnt realise there is a new shield that attaches to the board... but overall i recommend one if your after piece of mind.

I guess it's not surprising that the creator and manufacturer is going to say that

First, let me point out that I didn't say it's been proven. Simply that some scientists believe that the highly sensitive Ampullae of Lorenzini notice the magnetic anomoly from some distance and that sharks do tend to investigate things they are unsure of. So some scientists believe that shark may be attracted to the general area these devices are operating in. This has not been proven by anyone. But the Shark Shield manufacturer has not been able to disprove the theory yet, the last I heard.

I surf in a known Great White migration route and "refuling area" so I am following developments with some interest and without taking sides - I'm always interested to hear updates on the topic. But I don't need one of the devices myself.

The video trials I saw had Great Whites coming well within five meters of a diver, who then switched the device on. The shark did an immediate 360 and left immediate vicinity.

-doug

dougirwin13 wrote:Apparently some scientists now reckon the magnetic field could well attract sharks from longer distances tho.

yes, thats pretty much what i heard from divers, they attract the sharks in, but when they get too close it puts them off.
If i was somewhere sharky (like cornwall? ) and somebody else in the lineup had one, i wouldnt be very happy about it.

this attracting sharks bit sounds like an old wives tale to me, i hear this quite often from people and yet what proof do they have to back it up...
None... just what they heard from someone else.
the company that produce these shark shields have answered this question thoroughly in their faq on their website and yet people still keep going on about it.
i know quite a few divers, and im yet to hear one of them say it attracts sharks, a couple believer that they have saved their life from a shark attack, its only the surfers that dont want to accept that they might work so they dont damage their cool image!!! thats my opinion.

check out the faq at sharkshield.com an see what they have to say...

Your friend was eaten by a shark there and you still surf there, thats crazy man, where do you live?

i live where the film jaws was made.

we had another shark attack only a couple of years ago where a big shark got the fins of the board stuck in its mouth, this gave the crew enough time to get out of the water while it was thrashing around trying to dislodge it.
every now and then see dark shapes cruising around the breaks, especially now there is heaps of tuna farms, but they dont seem to be majorly aggressive. for the number of people in the water compared to the number of sharks in the area, there should be heaps more shark attacks than there is.

Please gives dates of these attacks and rough location so I can verify in shark files online.

Coz your claims sound pretty wild and I smell troll (new member, blah blah blah).

-doug

google the coroners report on jevan wright... a touro got taken at cactus the day before, or day after i dont know the date off the top of my head.

if all you want to hear are the same stories and perspectives on surfing, then i dont think i will bother coming back. unless it normal here to call all newbies trolls!!!!!

afterall your the one using this site to advertise your own site! im no troll!

hsv 4eva wrote:this attracting sharks bit sounds like an old wives tale to me, i hear this quite often from people and yet what proof do they have to back it up...
None... just what they heard from someone else.

Do you need proof that trees shed their leaves in autumn when it's spring? Just because you can't see it this moment doesn't mean it's not going to happen.

The 'theory' of it attracting sharks is based on solid scientific fact, and until the company disprove what is accepted to be (as far as I'm aware) established shark behaviour I'm going to accept the scientific reasoning over the:
(a)corporate spin
(b)fanatical plugging of a shark shield owner.

Still though, like a few people have said, the product looks interesting.

Hey "hsv 4eva"!

Apologies mate, didn't spot your location - same as mine. Eyre Peninsula is hairy and if that's your local I believe you, no question. Remember in the 80s when two guys got taken at the same spot over two days? Nasty. I live on the mid and don't surf in the gulf when the snapper are running (that's when it becomes "sightings per day" rather than "sightings per month").

Stone Fox and I are on the same page. The SS company hasn't provided solid proof that sharks aren't attracted to the SS device - just an interesting logical argument. But some members of the scientific community have voiced concerned because sharks are curious about irregularities in their environment and the electronmagnetic anomoly in question is sizeable.

I am not saying it does or does not attract sharks. I am saying there's no proof either way yet and that I am awaiting any such proof with interest.

As I've said before I don't need a shark shield. But I think I'd like the SS crew to be proven correct. Becuase I would consider obtaining one for my wife or kids if it makes them feel more confident in the water.

So if you can point to any serious studies or other hard evidence please do!

Cheers mate,
-doug
Compsand.com - The Composite Surfboard Cooperative!

no worries doug... i just didnt want people to think that i work for the company or anything.
one of my friends works on the tuna farms, and they see heaps of pointers and others swimming around the nets, so theres plenty around.

'stone fox'...
i dont intend to sound fanatical, but im just trying to make a valid point so 'mojo' doesnt get a totally bias opinion about the ss.

if anyone out there knows a site that has scientific proof that these ss do attract sharks then this is the place to post it, some friends are total against the ss for this reason but ive never heard anything but theories that they attract sharks, ie the reason for calling it a wives tale.

on the ss site they do say they have disproved the attracting sharks theory, but if its been scientifically proven that the ss does attract sharks i would hang the ss up in the shed as its not worth saving myself at the risk of others, and then only use it when im surfing alone. i would hope that their answers negating the theory of the ss attracting sharks isnt corporate spin to just sell shark shields.

G'day hsv 4eva,

I've been keeping an eye on the news (tv, papers, internet, etc) since I became aware of the SS a couple years ago.

Like I said before I haven't found any hard evidence either way. Several good logical arguments from both sides, but no clear winner on that front either.

You can bet I'll make everyone on here aware of any such evidence as soon as I come across it

I know a lot of surfers in South Africa (j-bay, etc) use the SS and surfer etiquette there appears to be to switch it off if there are other surfers in the water not wearing one. Not sure if thats a good idea or not, in the absence of proof either way.

And without proof I'm not sure which way I'd go. Seeing one on someone else's board in the water might make me feel uneasy in the meantime... Maybe! LOL! The fact is the sharks are there anyway and always have been. And even here, south africa and california (the big three) there just aren't that many attacks. Personally I think the attacks we do get are mistaken identity or curiosity at something the shark doesn't recognise.

Time to stop dribbling I guess
-doug

If you get a chance read section 10.3.1 "The 6th Sense: Electrical Detection of Prey" in Chapter 10 "Body Electronics and Magnetic Senses" in the book "Zoological Physics" by Boye K Ahlborn. It shows just how senstive the magnetic sense of a shark is and how curious they are about disturbances in EM fields.

Apparently this was once demonstrated on a National Geographic documentary where they buried some dead batteries in the sand and then left. According to the person who passed it on to me, sharks from outside visual range immediately entered the area and began investigating the sand where the batteries were buried. Didn;t see that one tho.

Still no proof, but interesting.

-doug
Compsand.com - The Composite Surfboard Cooperative!

doug, thats the best evidence ive hear up to date from anyone.

until someone is able to legally capture and study a pointer or some of his big cousins its going to be a hard one to completely prove/disprove and these debates will always go on.
when you think about it, there are some animals that use these type of senses for hunting... like the platypus that hunts with its eyes closed etc and can detect a yabbie hiding under a rock, they just need to categorically prove that the shark can do the same...and the debate will be over.

Theres a few of the older crew over here that dont want the SS worn while they are surfing, so you just dont wear one while your surfing certain spots. you have to respect the crew that have been surfing these breaks before i even started surfing.
Ive been out there (without the ss) and in two separate times people have been ordered from the water over wearing a ss. they all know that i have one but aslong as i respect their wishes they dont care in the slightest about it, and we all still get along.

It's interesting... But not hard proof.

Don't know, but maybe they could tag some pointers in some kind of land-locked peice of ocean (a gulf or something) and track their activity and reaction when they remotely trigger some of the SS devices? Sounds expensive tho! Someone would need a rather large grant to do that.

Or maybe they could track already tagged white sharks through a known migration route and study their reaction to the device at different distances? That'd probably be costly in terms of time tho.

It'll be interesting if they prove it either way. I'll be very interested to see how they prove it too (if they ever do).

-doug
Compsand.com - The Composite Surfboard Cooperative!