Great white shark repellents and deterrence

[123frankie]

My problem is that we're getting a lot of great white sharks in our area. More and more great whites show up here each summer. The biggest concentration of sharks seems to be in the area that we will be diving. So i'm looking for a proven shark deterrent. I know there's no 100% guarantee on anything. So I'm turning to this site for some experienced divers with hands-on experience with shark deterrent equipment. Thanks for your time and help. Frank

 

[AfterDark]

They're big too!

 

[drbill]

So far the only proven deterrent I've found is to carry a camera. Great white sharks avoid cameras at all costs... unless the cameras are properly contained within a shark cage. Then they feel safe to come in close.

 

[Angry Turtle]

I watched (partially as I was on a plane) a program on national geaographic where they showed some research that they could be repelled by the "smell of their own death".

In escence, some researchers noticed that after a great white was killed by a killer whale in an area (IIRC farallon islands) all the other sharks left the area. Their theory was that the decomposition compounds from the dead shark, kept the others from coming anywhere near the area. They made a synthetic "smell of death" and tried it on other sharks, and it appeared to work. As soon as they released this in the water, all sharks FLED the area inmediatly.

My program was interrupted by the plane landing, so I could not see if it has been reserched further or even commercialized at this point.

 

[Altamira]

I watched (partially as I was on a plane) a program on national geaographic where they showed some research that they could be repelled by the "smell of their own death".

In escence, some researchers noticed that after a great white was killed by a killer whale in an area (IIRC farallon islands) all the other sharks left the area. Their theory was that the decomposition compounds from the dead shark, kept the others from coming anywhere near the area. They made a synthetic "smell of death" and tried it on other sharks, and it appeared to work. As soon as they released this in the water, all sharks FLED the area inmediatly.

My program was interrupted by the plane landing, so I could not see if it has been reserched further or even commercialized at this point.

Of course that smell of death might just attract any nearby Orcas, which according to that same program do indeed hunt and feed on great whites.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

No need for repellant - you just need to be able to swim fast.

You do not need to be abel to swim faster than the great white, just faster than your buddy.

And that is of course why you stab your buddy in the leg with this when the sharks show up:

Aqua Lung Master Knife | Scuba Center | Tactical, Water Rescue, and SAR swimmer equipment

 

[theduckguru]

Pepper spray. Who knows if it works, but it might - or might not.

 

[Zen Diving Inc.]

Here is what you do... Cut your buddy- then swim away quickly lmao. Actually there was a company researching this and the best they could come up with was a special blend of dead shark odor that caused most sharks to bail immediately. Not sure if they ever marketed it successfully.

 

[Peter_C]

Shark Shield - Shark deterrent system - protection from shark attack and great white sharks

Have you read the statistics on Great White attacks? Not to say there isn't much to fear, but come on, we're not surfing, we're diving. Before you say I don't understand, I dive in the Red Triangle.

 

[Zen Diving Inc.]

Shark Shield - Shark deterrent system - protection from shark attack and great white sharks

Have you read the statistics on Great White attacks? Not to say there isn't much to fear, but come on, we're not surfing, we're diving. Before you say I don't understand, I dive in the Red Triangle.

Seems like a nice product... Wonder how well it would work while hunting...?