Green Lazer used as a shark repellant?

[bleeb]

Since many shark bites supposedly are test bites on the part of the shark and not meant quite so seriously (by the shark, I mean), I wonder if any bright light flash would interrupt the animal's train of thought, or at least get it thinking "this is a bit unusual; maybe I'll think about this for a sec" and by that time it's decided 'maybe not'. Green has some advantages in cutting through murky water better, and lasers are optically efficient since they don't spread the light out in all directions, but maybe it's just the flash of light that's really doing the trick.

 

[bleeb]

I am rather surprised that the class IIIa laser is available for the civilian market since the feds have banned all class IV lasers with the exception of the military. We have also seen an increase in incidence with locals using them to hit aircraft at night since the bandwidth of this particular type of laser is much more powerful than the red ones.

Ok, I realise I'm getting a bit off this thread's original topic here, but since you were curious:

I think the ban on high power lasers is pointing them in the sky, unless appropriately approved, like certain professional astronomical observatories, but those have Notice to Airmen warnings to pilots to stay away. It's not a ban on general public sale, since there are lots of them used in industrial cutting tools and surgery. It's just when you get to Class IV, you're getting to the "make hole in rock" power levels, which is usually a bad thing to do accidentally, especially to planes.

The problems about people shining lasers at planes is more because of dazzling and temporarily blinding pilots, and can even be done with cheap laser pointers (Class II or even Class I) which are widely available. A lot of people don't realise that there are risks with those laser pointers. In one place I worked, the health and safety people suddenly realised they had a bit of an issue to deal with when one of the optical engineers pointed out "you know all those laser pointers in every meeting room aren't eye safe" while it turned out 90% of the staff (including all the health and safety people) just assumed they were since they were so readily available in stores.

 

[james croft]

As a cop I am sensitive to having lasers pointed in my direction as I am not sure if it is attached to a weapon. Many states have passed laws prohibiting aiming at LEOs with them. Little red dots make me nervous...

 

[Diver Dennis]

As a cop I am sensitive to having lasers pointed in my direction as I am not sure if it is attached to a weapon. Many states have passed laws prohibiting aiming at LEOs with them. Little red dots make me nervous...

Good point.

 

[H2Andy]

guys, exactly how many divers were attacked by sharks last year?

and the year before that?

and for the last 10 years running?

this seems like a solution in search of a problem

 

[JTDivers]

I feel your concerns "brother". I also get jumpy when I see a red light bounce around the dash of my Crown Vic. However, I get even more jittery when it bounces off of my instrument panel or screen from our L3 WesCam. We were even able to kibosh the antics of a couple of Bush Okies dancing a greenie off of the wind screen one of our B3's. It took some time, however we were able to throw the habeas grab bis on them and shut them down. We were getting complains from other approaching aircraft over a time span of about six months. Chalk another one up for the good guys.

 

[JTDivers]

Thanks Andy,

I understand that this thread has very interesting replies. I am not sure if I would call this a solution in search of a problem though. By no means am I suggesting that divers should grab the nearest green laser and see how many hits on sharks they can make. I understand that they are very elusive creatures and there are rare times when they can become dangerous, mostly due to someone not being smart. However, so can we(humans). Most people know that we are a far greater threat to the shark population as well as the entire ecosystem of the worlds oceans. I feel that most of us(divers) are the last ones that need to be educated on what a fragile resource our oceans are and most of us attempt to educate others when the opportunity arises. Like I had stated in one of my earlier threads, this topic was discovered on another site and I know I personally had never heard of this kind of deterrent. I have heard of the "bang-stick" but that device kills rather than dis wades so I thought it a good idea to bring it up to see what the divers of the "Board" had to say about it. Besides, maybe the next time I hear this topic creep up in some remote area, I will have a little more knowledge to debate it on a more factual level, rather than by theory. As always, I thanks all of you who have responded and look forward to more topics.