Company offers shark deterrents

A WHITSUNDAY bareboat charter company has equipped each of its 40 boats with shark deterrent devices in the wake of recent shark attacks in Cid Harbour.

Melbourne doctor Daniel Christidis was killed by a shark on November 5 in Cid Harbour. There have been two other shark attacks on people in the same area this year.

Whitsunday Escape, the largest bareboat charter operator in the Whitsundays, has spent $ 25,000 on 40 of Ocean Guardian’s Freedom7 electronic shark deterrent devices.

They can be worn on a swimmer’s ankle or attached to a boat ladder, giving a four metre by six- metre protection zone for anyone within that area. The device creates a three- dimensional electrical field that causes safe but unbearable spasms in a shark’s sensitive electrical receptors in their snouts.

The electrical field is created by a trailing antenna attached to a power module worn on a swimmer’s or snorkeller’s ankle.

State Government, tourism and scientific representatives agreed on the need for more shark research, swimming bans in Cid Harbour and shark education, after a round table meeting.

Whitsunday Escape office manager Alita De Brincat said research would take time.

“We wanted to give our customers something to use in the interim, to give people peace of mind,” she said.

Ms De Brincat said that the devices were suggested by a Fisheries Department representative. The Western Australian Government has offered a $ 200 rebate for surfers and divers who buy an approved shark deterrent device, including the Freedom7 and another device.

The government said they were the only devices independently tested and scientifically proven to significantly reduce the risk of shark attack.

Ms De Brincat said some tourism operators suggested to the Queensland Government it could introduce such a rebate scheme but had not had a reply.