New Breakthrough in Shark Attack Prevention: Unconventional Solution Utilizes LED Lights

“An innovative solution is emerging to significantly reduce shark attacks, and it’s all about bright lights. Marine scientists have discovered a groundbreaking approach by using LED lights in specific patterns to confuse predators, rendering them powerless against the threat of shark attacks.

In recent breakthroughs, researchers have found that sharks are more likely to abandon their prey when they’re confronted with a visual disturbance. In other words, if the object appears less recognizable, the predator will be deterred from attacking. This revolutionary finding was tested on seal-shaped decoys in the water, and the results were nothing short of astounding.

When left unaltered, the decoys were repeatedly attacked by great white sharks. However, when illuminated with LED lights, the sharks became disinterested in pursuing their prey. The implications are clear: if we can successfully apply this technology to surfboards and other vessels, shark attacks could drastically decline.

But how does it work? To clarify, the key takeaway is that the patterns used must be specific – not simply flashlights or longitudinal stripes. In fact, only when LED lights were arranged in a striped pattern perpendicular to their motion did sharks stop attacking the decoys altogether.

To put this into perspective, if a surfer covers the entire underside of their board with LEDs, it would likely be too impractical and expensive. Instead, researchers suggest that embedding these patterns directly into surfboards could provide an effective, non-lethal deterrent against shark attacks.

In fact, Dr. Melissa Cristina Marquez, the lead researcher on this project, has already begun working on exactly that – integrating LED lights into surfboard prototypes. The next phase of research will involve testing whether these lights remain effective when a surfboard is stationary in the water, as well as examining their potential for use against other shark species.

While it’s crucial to acknowledge that great whites are notorious for relying heavily on visual cues while hunting seals, the effectiveness of this technology may vary across different predator species. As such, the researchers are eager to expand their findings and assess how well these LED lights perform with bull sharks and tiger sharks.

This innovation is not limited to surfboards alone, but also has the potential to create safer conditions for users on watercrafts as well.

Source: www.forbes.com