Clarke, Thomas M., Barnett, Adam, Fitzpatrick, Richard, Ryan, Laura A., Hart, Nathan S., Gauthier, Arnault R.G., Scott-Holland, Tracey B., and Huveneers, Charlie (2024) Personal electric deterrents can reduce shark bites from the three species responsible for the most fatal interactions. Scientific Reports, 14. 16307.

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Abstract

The frequency of unprovoked shark bites is increasing worldwide, leading to a growing pressure for mitigation measures to reduce shark-bite risk while maintaining conservation objectives. Personal shark deterrents are a promising and non-lethal strategy that can protect ocean users, but few have been independently and scientifically tested. In Australia, bull (Carcharhinus leucas), tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier), and white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are responsible for the highest number of bites and fatalities. We tested the effects of two electric deterrents (Ocean Guardian’s Freedom+ Surf and Freedom7) on the behaviour of these three species. The surf product reduced the probability of bites by 54% across all three species. The diving product had a similar effect on tiger shark bites (69% reduction) but did not reduce the frequency of bites from white sharks (1% increase), likely because the electrodes were placed further away from the bait. Electric deterrents also increased the time for bites to occur, and frequency of reactions and passes for all species tested. Our findings reveal that both Freedom+ Surf and Freedom7 electric deterrents affect shark behaviour and can reduce shark-bite risk for water users, but neither product eliminated the risk of shark bites entirely. The increasing number of studies showing the ability of personal electric deterrents to reduce shark-bite risk highlights personal protection as an effective and important part of the toolbox of shark-bite mitigation measures.

Item ID:	85192
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2045-2322
Copyright Information:	Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. © The Author(s) 2024
Funders:	Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants:	ARC Linkage (Project LP190100992)
Date Deposited:	22 Apr 2025 22:57
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3109 Zoology > 310901 Animal behaviour @ 100%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280102 Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences @ 100%
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