Australia to test new technology after wave of shark attacks

Australian shark experts will test cutting-edge technology - including electrical barriers powered by wave energy - following an “unprecedented” series of attacks on swimmers. The country has one of the world’s highest incidences of shark attacks and researchers from around the world met in Sydney on Tuesday at a meeting organised in part to address community fears. “What we’ve seen is pretty unprecedented,” New South Wales state Premier Mike Baird told the conference of a string of attacks in eastern Australia which left one dead and seven injured.

The decision-making process (to roll out the technologies) will be on the basis of the science… it will not be knee-jerk, it will not be in relation to any form of populist outcry.

New South Wales state Premier Mike Baird

A Japanese surfer died in February after his legs were torn off by a shark but there have been other serious attacks up and down the more than 2,000-kilometre-long (1,243-mile) NSW coast. There have been 13 attacks in the state so far this year, compared to three in 2014. "Ultimately, we’ve moved from a position in some parts of the coast where the coastline was joy… (to) fear, and we need to take that away,“ Baird said.

Sharks have seven senses. We don’t clearly know how sharks completely sense their environment but we know much more than we did 10 years ago.

Daryl McPhee of Bond University

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