Looking Back at the Time Chris Hemsworth Narrated the Remarkable Tech To Deter the Sharks From Biting Surfers

Chris Hemsworth is an avid surfer. In fact, he has been surfing since he was a kid, and for him, surfing was a way to spend quality time with his family. While surfing all these years, he must have had some encounters with sharks. These encounters made him wonder if anything could be done to ensure the safety of surfers, and the sharks as well.

Enter, Charlie Huveneers. For several years, he’s been looking for ways to deter sharks when they decide to attack. There is no doubt that a device for this would help surfers all around the world. Hemsworth, interviewed Huveneers to find out the true motivation behind it.

Chris Hemsworth inquired Charlie Huveneers about the new technology

In a documentary published by National Geographic, titled Shark Beach with Chris Hemsworth, the superstar pondered the question, “I think it’s fair to say however good we get at keeping humans and sharks apart in the ocean, there will always be moments when we meet. And in those worst-case scenarios when sharks bite, is there anything that can be done?” It turns out, Huveneer already did something about it.

The scientist, based out of Australia, built a device that would act as a deterrent for sharks. When Hemsworth asked him what the real motivation behind the device was, the scientist answered, “The fascination of sharks just turned into a real inquest in- into science and understanding the sharks better so that we can actually help in providing a safer environment for some people, but also for sharks.” The device was developed by  Charlie Huveneer and his colleagues from Flinders University in Adelaide.

To perform tests and check the efficiency of the device, Huveneer and his colleagues sailed to Neptune Islands, which is a hotspot for the Great White Shark. The reason for choosing this spot was that Neptune Island is home to one of Australia’s largest colonies of long-nosed fur seals. And the Great Whites come in large numbers to hunt for them. The next and the most obvious question is, how does it work?

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Ministrations of the new shark deterrent

Huveneer described the shark and surfer situation, “So what we have seen is that in recent years there has been an increase in the number of shark bites globally, including in Australia. And this has resulted in a lot of interest in the devices to try to reduce those risks.” To do this, Huveneer and his mates found a weakness that they could work with.

“So it’s the perfect place to test products designed to take advantage of sharks’ very unusual senses. There’s only a small number of animals that have this ability to detect electric fields, and sharks have it through these black dots called ampullae of Lorenzini,” explained Charlie Huveneer. He added, “The idea behind this electric field-based deterrent is that they will produce such a strong pulse that it will overwhelm the sensory organ and make the shark basically move away from the source.”

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According to Hemsworth, the deterrent device is something that will fit into a surfboard. Hence, the idea is to make safer surfboards that will produce electric fields and as a consequence, deter sharks. It is surely an interesting piece of technology.