You know those invisible electric barriers people set up around their houses to stop their pet dogs from running away?
Well, the people over at KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board in South Africa have decided to install an electric underwater ‘fence’ to stop sharks from swimming near popular Cape Town beaches.
Sharks nets are used across many beaches at the moment, but tonnes of sharks get caught up in the nets and die every year. And that’s not counting all the other marine animals that get entangled.
“Surfer Magazine have dubbed it the ‘electric shark puncher'”
Surfer Magazine have dubbed it the ‘electric shark puncher’ – and that’s pretty much what it does. The idea is to place a cable along the sea floor with wires giving off a low level electric current.
The end of shark’s noses are particularly sensitive to electric current. So when they touch the electric strands, it’ll feel like they’ve been punched in the nose, according to Surfer Mag.
The benefit is most fish don’t have the same sensitivity to electric currents as sharks, so they will be able to swim on by unfazed.
As one person wisely pointed out, surely these zapped sharks will just get super pissed off and swim straight on through towards the beach? Either way it’s an interesting idea…
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