‘Smell of death’ being tested to repel sharks

A SYNTHETIC substance that dissolves in water to mimic the smell of dead sharks is being tested off the Cape coast.

It is designed to protect bathers from the apex predators.

Cape Town resident Collin Brooker and his son, Simon, have teamed up with scientist Jane Fallows to produce a new type of shark repellent‚ dubbed the Podi.

The device‚ described as a tablet that can be fastened around the ankle of a bather or surfer‚ is seen as an alternative to harming the creatures in a bid to protect bathers.

“It is well known that sharks move away from the smell of a dead shark‚ particularly a decaying shark.

“Current technology works on the biochemistry where a dead shark is boiled down‚ turned into a gel and used to repel sharks‚” Brooker said.

“We have identified the particular structures [of that smell] and we have synthetically reproduced all the compounds that make up the smell of a dead shark. We don’t have to kill a shark to repel a shark.

“All the different chemical makeups are completely natural.

“Therefore there is no toxicity in the ocean. It is completely natural‚ biodegradable and eco-friendly.”

He said current shark repellents were based on a bather needing to be in close proximity to a shark. By that time, it may be too late to save the person’s life.

“If you take a 360-pound [164kg] tiger shark you can have a shotgun on you and you still wouldn’t be able to stop it‚ because it is going at high speed and its mouth is already open,” Brooker said.

“A biochemical product that is currently available has to be activated by the [swimmer].

“We have taken a different approach: we want to make the shark think to not go to an area it is travelling towards.”

Brooker said a shark could smell up to 3km away and this device would deter a shark from more than 1 000 metres away.

“By testing it in the ocean we want to make sure it is as effective as the real smell of a decaying shark.”