Way back when, as I was going through training, the Navy withdrew the chemical shark repellant that they used to include in our survival kit and attach to our flotation gear.
When they withdrew it, I recall they said it was because the Navy had done some research and concluded it was not a repellant, and in fact might attract sharks. The only thing the Navy had found that appeared to work was a dark sack. It was like a huge plastic trash bag that you got inside of, and apparently served two purposes - 1) if you were bleeding (which was likely after an ejection) it kept your your blood contained and 2) Helped you blend into the background - kinda of shapeless dark mass.... Whatever value it had wasn't apparently worth the trouble, because as far as I knew, they never issued it.
Good news is I kept my number of take-offs and landings equal, so I never had any actual experience floating with sharks.
Mark
When they withdrew it, I recall they said it was because the Navy had done some research and concluded it was not a repellant, and in fact might attract sharks. The only thing the Navy had found that appeared to work was a dark sack. It was like a huge plastic trash bag that you got inside of, and apparently served two purposes - 1) if you were bleeding (which was likely after an ejection) it kept your your blood contained and 2) Helped you blend into the background - kinda of shapeless dark mass.... Whatever value it had wasn't apparently worth the trouble, because as far as I knew, they never issued it.
Good news is I kept my number of take-offs and landings equal, so I never had any actual experience floating with sharks.
Mark
