Shark
mitigation has become a highly debated topic in Western Australia (WA) in
light of the
controversial culling policy adopted by the WA
Government. As a result, you
rarely hear about all the great research being conducted by WA
scientists to better understand sharks.
Therefore, we have decided to give you exclusive
behind-the-scenes access to our latest research expedition in WA,
with the
UWA Neuroecology Group, to
test a range of cutting-edge shark repellents.
Come back daily between the 8th
and 20th of January 2014 to see blog posts directly from
the field, by members of
our shark team, with
exclusive
updates on our research progress.
Day 13 - The Last Word From A Volunteer's Perspective
Blog post by Volunteer Denisse Fierro (20 January 2014)
When I was given the opportunity to join a group of scientists from the
UWA Neuroecology Group to test shark deterrents, there was no
way I was going to miss it. After almost a month of waiting and a
very long drive, we arrived at our destination.
I spent most of the time with the shore team, testing different
deterrents at beaches along the WA coast. Some of the footage that
we managed to get was absolutely brilliant. We did not only manage
to see sharks of a great range of sizes, but we also saw a great
variety of fishes, as well as rays, turtles and the odd dolphin. It
may sound like an easy job, but do not be fooled by the beach
setting. There was a lot of hard work involved in setting up camp,
finding a suitable location for the cameras, attracting the sharks,
finding solutions to unforeseen problems, and of course monitoring
the cameras for any shark movement. The days were long, very hot at
times, and very tiring indeed. But despite the hard work, this has
been one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had, because
I had the opportunity to not only get involved in shark research,
which is something I am passionate about, but I was also able to
meet and work with the scientists that carry out this research.
I have learned a lot from this experience, and now know that regardless
of how much time you spend planning your trip (which in this case
was quite a few months), things are bound to go wrong.
You need to be able to keep a cool head under pressure and be
flexible in your thinking so that you can overcome those obstacles.
It was impressive to see how a difficult situation was turned
around by everyone putting their heads together to come up with a
solution. Two heads are definitely better than one in these cases.
Lastly, I would like to thank the entire team of researchers for being
very friendly and open about sharing their knowledge, and of course,
for including me in this amazing trip. I have to say that they have
all inspired me to keep working hard towards my goal to become a
marine scientist, specialising in sharks. And who knows, maybe in a
few years, I will be part of this same team in charge of my very own
research project.
For more information on our research group, check out the
UWA Neuroecology Group website.
If you would like to contribute to this research and ensure a safe
outcome for both people and sharks in WA and around the world, you
can make a tax-deductable donation via the
UWA Online Giving page
(Gift type = Research Initiative - Shark Conservation and
Deterrents).
Day 12 - Sharks, Camera, Action!
Blog post by PhD Candidate Laura Ryan (19 January 2014)
The weather really picked up for our last day of
field work. The wind had dropped a little from the last few days,
the sun was shining and water visibility had improved dramatically.
Today we tested our light deterrent from the shore using a LIVE rig
set up. This consisted of an intense strobe light that was triggered
when a shark approached the rig.
Strobe lights have been found to deter a range of
other animals but to date no record of testing on sharks has been
documented. Strobes have been used to prevent lions from encroaching
on human territory as well as preventing bony fish from entering
power station cooling intakes. Most people have experienced the
sensation of a light globe just before it dies when it creates a
fast flicker or a strobe at a night club. It is possible that the
flickering of light may also deter sharks because of the heightened
level of visual stimulation. We have had multiple interactions from
this trip that will provide some interesting insights on the use of
strobe lights as a shark deterrent and
For more information on our research group, check out the
UWA Neuroecology Group website.
If you would like to contribute to this research and ensure a safe
outcome for both people and sharks in WA and around the world, you
can make a tax-deductable donation via the
UWA Online Giving page
(Gift type = Research Initiative - Shark Conservation and
Deterrents).
Day 11 - Shark Brains
Blog post by A/Professor Kara Yopak (18 January 2014)
Another amazing day in the field! Whether we have
to deal with tricky weather, poor visibility, or mysterious sharks
(who I’m certain are hiding just outside our camera range), it’s
incredible to interact with these animals and have the opportunity
to see even a small piece of the underwater world they call home.
Much of my personal research relates to the brain
of sharks and their relatives, which is mostly performed in a
laboratory, but would be incomplete without a true understanding of
where these animals live and the number of intriguing and complex
behaviors they engage in. Although sharks were previously thought to
have relatively simple brains, work by myself and other members of
our group has shown that sharks and other cartilaginous fishes have
a battery of highly developed sensory systems and relatively large
brains that are comparable to birds and mammals. Interestingly, the
size of various sensory brain regions reflects a shark’s ecology and
can often provide clues to the senses they likely specialize in to
be most successful in their environment.
In terms of a shark repellant, this suggests that
the relative importance of the different senses varies between shark
species. In other words, by looking at the brain, we can predict if
an animal is more visual or olfactory, is a lateral line specialist
or likely uses electroreception more in localizing prey, or is more
of a sensory generalist. What this suggests to our team is that a
multisensory approach is expected to be the most effective when
developing repellants and that a deterrent that may work for one
species may not work for another. For this reason, our deterrent
tests are targeting a variety of senses at a range of thresholds.
Stay tuned as our final day approaches and we head back to the lab
to analyze the hundreds of hours of amazing footage we’ve collected.
For more information on our research group, check out the
UWA Neuroecology Group website.
If you would like to contribute to this research and ensure a safe
outcome for both people and sharks in WA and around the world, you
can make a tax-deductable donation via the
UWA Online Giving page
(Gift type = Research Initiative - Shark Conservation and
Deterrents).
Day 10 - What Kind of Music Do Sharks Like...and Hate?
Blog post by PhD Candidate Lucille Chapuis (17 January 2014)
Let’s stop speaking for a moment and listen to
the sounds around us… The underwater environment is full of a
variety of sounds and acoustic cues for all of its inhabitants,
including sharks. Sharks are known to be sensitive to low frequency
sounds from about 20 Hz to 4000 Hz. In contrast, humans can hear
sounds up to 20,000 Hz (and some dolphins up to 150,000 Hz!). A
shark’s hearing system is thus very specialised and well adapted to
low frequencies and yet almost nothing is known about it.
Today, we put this challenging mystery to the
test by arming our stereo camera rigs with underwater speakers to
present sharks with a mix of sounds with different frequencies,
alternating intensities and varying tempos.
Will the sharks be attracted, deterred or pay no attention?
It was especially thrilling to deploy the rigs
from the boat, as you are never sure about what will turn up and
what the reaction may be.
When you retrieve a rig, about 90 minutes after it was
deployed, your first thought is for your equipment. Is it still
attached? Still working? Any evidence of an interaction? You don’t
have any clue what may have happened and how the experiment has been
going underwater. It is only at the end of the day, when you come
back to the base camp, that you can upload the videos onto the
computer and allow yourself to deep dive into the sharks’ underwater
world and try to unfold the mysteries. After a review of the videos
collected from the day, I might be able to imagine whether sharks
like drum ‘n’ base mixes or would prefer an act of a Verdi opera…to
be continued!
For more information on our research group, check out the
UWA Neuroecology Group website.
If you would like to contribute to this research and ensure a safe
outcome for both people and sharks in WA and around the world, you
can make a tax-deductable donation via the
UWA Online Giving page
(Gift type = Research Initiative - Shark Conservation and
Deterrents).
Day 9 - The Weather Strikes Again!
Blog post by Dr. Ryan Kempster (16 January 2014)
Another day of high winds and
so, unfortunately, we couldn’t get the boat out again.
Instead, we spent the day on shore with the film crew to run
the live camera rigs, which allowed us to monitor sharks in real
time and trigger repellents as they approached. We have had so many
great interactions, but we will only know the final results when we
analyse all the video footage. As soon as we return to the lab, we
will be locking ourselves away for a few months to get through the
hundreds of hours of footage that we have collected on this trip.
It’s a time-consuming process, but the results make it all worth it.
In fact, you can check out some of the video footage from our
previous field trip
right here. Only two more days to go; hopefully the weather will
improve and we can get back out on the boat to find some more big
sharks!
For more information on our research group, check out the
UWA Neuroecology Group website.
If you would like to contribute to this research and ensure a safe
outcome for both people and sharks in WA and around the world, you
can make a tax-deductable donation via the
UWA Online Giving page
(Gift type = Research Initiative - Shark Conservation and
Deterrents).
Day 8 - The Arrival of the Documentary Team
Blog post by Prof. Shaun Collin (15 January 2014)
Today we were
joined by a professional film crew from Windfall Films (in the UK),
lead by Presenter Mark Evans,
who has fronted many exciting international documentaries including
Great White Shark
(from the Series
Inside Nature’s Giants). Windfall Films will join us for a
few days in the field and then come back to our Neuroecology
laboratory, within the School of Animal Biology at The University of
Western Australia in order for us to show the world how we are using
basic knowledge of the sensory systems of sharks to develop robust
deterrents. Their team of three managed to film our shore-based
activities, which saw us deploy two live rigs testing the responses
of sharks to lights and bubbles. Unfortunately, the conditions were
quite tough with high temperatures, gusty winds and low visibility
testing the grit of all of our research team members. Our
ocean-based activities have been postponed due to high winds but we
hope that we will soon be able to resume this crucial part of our
testing regime (on the larger sharks) tomorrow. Thus far, the team
has worked extremely well together and we all look forward to the
remaining few days we have left.
For more information on our research group, check out the
UWA Neuroecology Group website.
If you would like to contribute to this research and ensure a safe
outcome for both people and sharks in WA and around the world, you
can make a tax-deductable donation via the
UWA Online Giving page
(Gift type = Research Initiative - Shark Conservation and
Deterrents).
Day 7 - The House Team
Blog post by M.Sc. Student Channing Egeberg (14 January 2014)
Today I was on the house team, meaning I got to
enter the all-important data into the computers and review the video
files from the past few days!
I admit it doesn’t sound like the most exciting job, but
there is something exciting about discovering what species of sharks
we caught on film and how they interacted with the rigs!
It also came as a bit of a welcome break after 3 days in a
row on the hot exposed beach.
The downside is that it can be tough to keep track of all the
cameras, batteries, memory cards, data sheets, etc. and get them all
copied, charged, and ready for the next day.
In addition, today I had the job of picking out the
most exciting and interesting clips from our videos so far to show
to the film crew that has just arrived to document our research for
their upcoming documentary.
The film crew will be accompanying us into the field
tomorrow, so we will be sure to update you on how it all goes… Smile
for the cameras!
For more information on our research group, check out the
UWA Neuroecology Group website.
If you would like to contribute to this research and ensure a safe
outcome for both people and sharks in WA and around the world, you
can make a tax-deductable donation via the
UWA Online Giving page
(Gift type = Research Initiative - Shark Conservation and
Deterrents).
Day 6 - Electric Sharks
Blog post by Dr. Ryan Kempster (13 January 2014)
Today the team was out on the
boat testing electric repellents, as it is thought that strong
electric fields may overstimulate the highly sensitive
electroreceptors in the snout of sharks and thus cause them to swim
away.
In the oceans, electric fields may be produced by both biological and
geological sources, and it is thought that sharks make use of these
signals to navigate and locate prey. In fact, they can even use
electric fields to detect predators, hence why electric repellents
may be a viable option to repel sharks. If sharks are naturally
repelled by the electric fields of their predators, then it would
seem logical that an artificial version of those electric fields
would also repel them.
Working from the boat can be
challenging, as space is very limited and the testing rigs take up
much of the room available. For every electric repellent we are
testing, we also deploy a control rig, which includes an unpowered
repellent. This is to ensure that it is not the appearance of the
repellent that is deterring the sharks, as electric repellents come
in many different forms. Today alone, we had interactions with
hammerheads, tiger sharks and bronze whaler sharks.
It has been a fantastic day on the water with beautiful
conditions. Tomorrow,
however, is not looking good and so we may have to focus our efforts
from the shore if the weather deteriorates too much.
For more information on our research group, check out the
UWA Neuroecology Group website.
If you would like to contribute to this research and ensure a safe
outcome for both people and sharks in WA and around the world, you
can make a tax-deductable donation via the
UWA Online Giving page
(Gift type = Research Initiative - Shark Conservation and
Deterrents).
Day 5 - It's All About the Bubbles
Blog post by Dr. Ryan Kempster (12 January 2014)
Today was all about bubbles,
and by that I don’t mean we spent the day relaxing in a Jacuzzi, but
rather we were testing the concept that sharks may be repelled by
bubbles. This may sound
odd, but bubbles may be an effective way of deterring sharks. Not
only do they provide a visual cue, but they also make a lot of noise
and, additionally, sharks can detect the pressure changes caused by
the water displacement through their mechanoreceptors.
Both the shore team and boat
team trialled bubble repellents today and had interactions with
bronze whaler sharks, black tip reef sharks and shovelnose rays.
Even after only three days of testing we have built up a fantastic
data set of a range of repellents in action. I can’t wait to get
into the analysis to see what the results will show.
Tomorrow we will be testing a
series of electric and visual repellents.
For more information on our research group, check out the
UWA Neuroecology Group website.
If you would like to contribute to this research and ensure a safe
outcome for both people and sharks in WA and around the world, you
can make a tax-deductable donation via the
UWA Online Giving page
(Gift type = Research Initiative - Shark Conservation and
Deterrents).
Day 4 - Chemical Repellents
Blog post by Dr. Ryan Kempster (11 January 2014)
Today I had the pleasure of joining our shore team to investigate the effectiveness of chemical shark deterrents. Chemical deterrents have been in use since WWII, but when scientifically tested, most have been found to be ineffective at deterring sharks. However, some early testing revealed that the smell of rotten shark flesh appeared to be effective, presumably because the smell of rotten shark to a live shark may indicate danger and so the natural response is to flee. The often conflicting and disappointing results from chemical repellent research later led to the research being abandoned. Therefore, we thought we would pick up the baton and see if we can find an effective chemical repellent solution.
Using a live stereo camera
rig, we are able to monitor sharks as they approach a bait
attractant, at which point we can instantly pump in a natural
chemical repellent to the area to determine if the sharks are
deterred from feeding.
All videos are recorded in stereo (paired cameras) to allow accurate
measurements to be taken, which provides a much more robust data set
for later analysis.
Working from the shore has the advantage of a stable platform to work from (no issues with seasickness), but the disadvantage of exposure to the elements. With >45C temperatures, extreme humidity, and more flies than I care to think about, it can be a challenging place to work. Nevertheless, we persevere and the results make it all worthwhile. In fact, today alone, we had interactions with grey reef sharks, black tip reef sharks, and shovelnose rays.
For more information on our research group, check out the
UWA Neuroecology Group website.
If you would like to contribute to this research and ensure a safe
outcome for both people and sharks in WA and around the world, you
can make a tax-deductable donation via the
UWA Online Giving page
(Gift type = Research Initiative - Shark Conservation and
Deterrents).
Day 3 - The Testing Begins
Blog post by Associate Professor Nathan Hart (10 January 2014)
Day 3 of the field trip has seen hot (>45C) and windy conditions once again. After a lot of preparatory work yesterday, today was the first day of actually testing the repellents. Two different teams were deployed, one based on the beach to study interactions with smaller/juvenile sharks and another on the boat to try and study interactions with larger/adult sharks. Among the repellent technologies tested today were two different electronic devices (from the boat) and bubble curtains (from the shore). Working from the boat, we deploy a total of 4 individual rigs at any one time: we test two different repellents and each repellent test rig has its own control rig (where the repellent is absent or switched off). Each ‘drop’ lasts around 90mins and this is repeated up to 4 times a day depending on weather conditions. Working from the beach we take a different approach where a continuous live video feed is monitored for the arrival of sharks on the bait, at which point the repellent is triggered and the response of the shark recorded.
Now the teams are back from the field, we begin
the somewhat lengthy process of downloading all the video footage
from the day (approximately 40-50 individual SD cards with 12GB of
video files on each card), recharging the camera batteries and
cleaning and preparing the rigs for deployment tomorrow. Although we
are just starting to analyse the video footage, we have already seen
some sharks interacting with the rigs, including hammerheads, grey
reef and black tip reef sharks. This is a promising start to the
trip and it is gratifying to see the testing rigs working as they
should, after all the effort that has gone into building and
perfecting the designs.
Day 2 - Recon
Blog post by Dr. Ryan Kempster (09 January 2014)
Our first day out on the water
and what a beautiful day it is: the water is calm, clear and full of
sharks…we hope! Today, I was joined by W/Prof. Shaun Collin, A/Prof.
Nathan Hart and Safety Officer Caroline Kerr to go and check out
some proposed sites for the deployment of our repellents. Our aim is
to have a team of 3-4 people work out in deep water from the boat to
target large sharks and also a shore-based team to target juvenile
sharks in the shallows. Both teams will be equipped with modified
stereo camera rigs that will record all the action remotely. After
deployment, the rigs will be retrieved and the footage analysed to
determine the effectiveness of the different repellents attached to
the rigs. Tomorrow is
our first official day of testing, so we hope we can give you some
good news very soon.
Day 1 - Road Trip
Blog post by Dr. Ryan Kempster (08 January 2014)
We have finally arrived at our testing location after many hours of driving and carefully avoiding a number of kangaroos along the way. We are all extremely tired and ready to get a good night sleep in preparation for when the real work starts tomorrow. But before everyone headed off to bed I managed to grab a quick photo of the team. We have a mixed bunch, including shark brain specialists, marine neuroecologists, PhD students, MSc students and volunteers. Tomorrow, we will visit our research sites and prepare all the equipment for deployment. I hope to give you some more information then on what types of repellents we will be testing, but for now I must say goodnight.
(Photo: Left to right - A/Prof. Nathan Hart, Dr. Kara Yopak, Jack Collin, Denisse Fierro, Geordie Collin, Tom Collin, Maree Bekkers, Caroline Kerr, Lucille Chapuis, Channing Egeberg, Carl Schmidt, W/Prof. Shaun Collin, Laura Ryan, Dr. Ryan Kempster)
For more information on our research group, check out the
UWA Neuroecology Group website.
If you would like to contribute to this research and ensure a safe
outcome for both people and sharks in WA and around the world, you
can make a tax-deductable donation via the
UWA Online Giving page
(Gift type = Research Initiative - Shark Conservation and
Deterrents).
The Prep
Blog post by Dr. Ryan Kempster (07 January 2014)
I thought I would start off the trip's blog by letting you in on the not-so-glamorous side of shark research: The Prep. Every 2 week research trip that we conduct can take up to 6 months of planning. This is because, as well as designing good scientific experiments with well thought out methodologies, we also have to build all of our own equipment. Even more importantly, we have to get all the necessary permits and approvals to be allowed to conduct the work. The above photo was taken this afternoon as we began packing the trailers to leave in the early hours of tomorrow morning. Over the next 2 weeks, we hope to introduce you to the different types of equipment we will be using during the course of this research expedition as well as our awesome team members that make it all possible.
Come back every day for the latest blog updates live from the field with exclusive insights into how we are testing and developing new shark repellent technologies to keep you safe in the water.
For more information on our research group, check out the UWA Neuroecology Group website. If you would like to contribute to this research and ensure a safe outcome for both people and sharks in WA and around the world, you can make a tax-deductable donation via the UWA Online Giving page (Gift type = Research Initiative - Shark Conservation and Deterrents).
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