Kay Dee
Contributor
Except that's not what the research shows.
SA researchers trial effectiveness of electronic shark deterrent devices on Great Whites - ABC Adelaide - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Like I said we swore by them, and saw them work, and I am still walking and talking so that's all I can really say about that, except, each to their own. Besides, although I no longer have a link (if there ever was one given it was back in the dark ages), I have long ago seen videos from South Africa with Great Whites literally bouncing of the 'field' time and time again.
And as the researches themselves said, and I alluded to above "We can't apply our findings to specifically what would happen in the case of an interaction between a human and a shark, but what we can do is learn from what we have observed in understanding how sharks might behave to the shark shields. Researcher found results varied from shark to shark, and even between the two testing methods."
I have been to the Neptunes on several cage diving trips back in the 90's and it was and still is a HEAVILY chummed / baited area, and seal rookery, with already 'aggro' sharks, so I wouldn't say that was the most 'neutral' place for a test, noris 'baiting them in' to 'our' situation per se, as after all we don't swim around with blood or other enticing fluids trailing down current (I hope!).
But the Neptunes sure is a place to generally find a relative abundance of white sharks, which they needed for their studies no doubt. But I myself would not compare 'baited behavior' to a diver just swimming about. Like they say in the report though, depends on the shark (and maybe his / her experiences with divers and / or even being previously baited?).
That's my wife and I (below) in cage in background @ the Neptunes. Photo by Kev Deacon.
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