A woman is pulled onto a dock after a shark attacks her in December 2010.
A small nick… maybe. Perhaps a full-on clamper as long as no vitals were disturbed. But anything more severe than that and $1 million still isn’t enough “compensation” for weathering a shark bite.
Apparently, NoBite Technologies have created a nifty new shark deterrent called the Ocean Recreation Comfort Apparatus, or ORCA for short. It employs what they call Sonic Camouflage technology, which basically shoots out sounds that sharks don’t like, at a range of up to 100 feet. With a 12-hour battery life, it more than covers most sessions. The part that’s making waves? It comes with a “No Bite Guarantee” of $1 million. So clearly they feel pretty confident about it.
Following eight shark attacks in Maui back in 2013, beach-goers were reluctant to get back in the ocean. So co-founder Brandon Martin took it upon himself to create a device that would provide some level of comfort that might encourage people to return. The hope is that this technology based on evolutionary science provides a viable alternative to mitigation programs like shark culls. Thus far, it has been tested by six professional marathon swimmers in a 43-mile, 16-hour journey from Santa Barbara Island to Catalina Island in Southern California.
“Since the 1970s, research has shown that killer whale calls and other sounds can cause some shark species to move away,” said Dr. Manue Martinez, PhD in Marine Biology and Head Researcher at Pacific Whale Foundation, in a recent press release. “The O.R.C.A. brings existing science to a wearable device. As a result of extensive testing [done in crowded beaches in Western Australia], we are so confident that you will not be bitten by a shark while wearing an O.R.C.A. that we are offering an industry first, No Bite Guarantee.”
The deterrent is still in crowd-funding mode on Kickstarter.com, and the campaign looks to raise $175,000 by August 17. Whether it makes it or not, we’re seeing a definite influx of this sort of technology in the market. And ORCA seems to be the first to put their money where their mouth is.
However, when all is said and done, we’d rather not cash in on that cool million.
Want to know more about ORCA’s NoBite technology? Check out the Kickstarter campaign.
