These devices use an electric field to scare sharks from fishing hooks

A new gadget takes advantage of sharks’ sixth sense to send the fish scurrying away from deadly hooks.

Sharks, rays and their relatives can detect tiny electric fields, thanks to bulbous organs concentrated near their heads called ampullae of Lorenzini. So researchers developed SharkGuard, a cylindrical device that attaches to fishing lines just above the hook and emits a pulsing, short-range electric field. The device successfully deters sharks and rays, probably by temporarily overwhelming their sensory system, the scientists report November 21 in Current Biology.

While many people are afraid of sharks, the fear makes more sense the other way around; numerous shark species are at risk of extinction,

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