Conservation efforts for sharks have been going on for decades. Now, as the shark population grows, experts are looking for ways to stop sharks from interacting with people.
One problem that many fishermen are having is that sharks are eating the fish that the fishermen catch. In the end, they came up with the idea of a small gadget that would shock sharks that try to eat the catch.
This thing, the SharkGuard, goes on the fishing line instead of a hook and is placed about 10 inches away from the bait. The shock is like a prank pen that sends a shirt pulse to make the pores that sharks use to find food more sensitive. “We don’t have that sense.” “They don’t seem to be hurt by it, but they don’t like how it feels,” said Demian Chapman, senior scientist and head of the Center for Shark Research in Sarasota.
In order to see for themselves how well the device works, researchers at the Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium are running their own tests in a lab that holds 60,000 gallons of water.
They will also be able to see the shark’s response to the device up close during the tests. This has been tried out on hammerhead sharks and bonnethead sharks so far.
Another big problem that this gadget would help fix is sharks being caught in fishing nets by accident. An estimated 100 million sharks are killed every year in the US because they get caught in fishing nets.
Sharks are being studied by Mote, who tags them when they can to learn more about them. The number of tagged sharks has been going up over the past few years, which shows that shark populations are growing.
“We don’t know if they’re at the level where they need to be to be important for the ecosystem,” said Chapman. “But we do know there’s more of them, and so we have to learn how to live with them again.”
