While shark attacks are a relatively rare risk compared to the dangers of driving your car to work, for those that share the waters with these predators it can be a real danger. A growing market has emerged in the area of shark repellent devices that use electronic signals or foul tasting chemicals, but it seems a possible alternative could just be the color and patterns of a wet suit.
In this TED Talk, Hamish Jolly: A shark-deterrent wetsuit (and it's not what you think), Mr. Jolly talks about research they discover how and what a shark sees. They focused on the eyes of the three most dangerous sharks the Bull, Tiger, and Great White Sharks. Research had discovered that these predatory sharks see in greyscale, and their continued research explored the way sharks see and the patterns they respond to.
The research explored patterns for suits used on the surface of the water in activities like swimming and surfing, as well as those used in SCUBA diving below the surface. These two types of suits are designed using different ideas.
The first suit is designed for surface divers. This one utilizes bold stripes that mimic the warning stripes of fish that are left alone by sharks because they either taste bad to them or are in a symbiotic relationship with them. Since most shark attacks are attributed to sharks mistaking humans for their prey, the hope is that by making humans look like things a shark would normally not eat or avoid would prevent an attack. When they placed this type of pattern on a wet suit covering a bait container the sharks left it alone. The same container covered with a traditional black wet suit was attacked.
The second suit is designed for divers beneath the waves, and its goal is not to use bold patterns to warn the sharks away, but instead allow them to blend into the water so that they become invisible to the sharks. The patterns on this suit are designed to make the diver hard to see from the side, as well as from below, which is a favored ambush position for some sharks.
Both of these designs mimic the strategies that many ocean creatures already use to protect themselves from sharks. Humans can benefit from this by saving money on more expensive repellent ideas, as well as by being safer in the water. This is also good for sharks... the less they harm people, the more likely they are to be left alone when they drift to close to where people live.
Here is the TED Video:
Stripe Suit Pic
http://www.surfersvillage.com/sites/default/files/field/image/1807-sharksuit_4.jpg
Water Camo Pic
http://images.watoday.com.au/2013/07/18/4580593/9-620x414.jpg
3 Suits
http://cdn.novafm.com.au/sites/default/files/No-More-Shark-Attacks-article2.jpg
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