Protective Oceanic Device
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| Founded | 1999 |
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| Headquarters | Joondalup, Western Australia, Australia |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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Lindsay Lyon (CEO) |
| Website | sharkshield |
Shark Shield is a personal electronic device that creates an electromagnetic field to deter shark attacks and is used by surfers, scuba divers, spearfishing, and ocean kayak fishing. The electrical wave-form used in the Shark Shield is based on a technology originally invented by the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board of South Africa in the 1990s developing an electrical shark deterrent, the SharkPOD (Protective Oceanic Device or simply POD). The Shark Shield device was developed by the Australian company SeaChange Technology Pty Ltd, and commercialized by its trading company Shark Shield Pty Ltd established in October 2006.
The original wave-form used in the shark repelling technology was devised by three inventors, Graeme Charter, Sherman Ripley, Norman Starkey, and released in 1995 by POD Holdings Ltd, a joint venture company partly owned by the Natal Sharks Board and the South African Government.
In 2001, the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board ceased distribution of the SharkPOD. All rights to the intellectual property were licensed to a South Australian-based company, SeaChange Technology Pty Ltd, with the inventor Mike Westcombe-Down developing various application patents which resulted in a commercial product line under the brand name Shark Shield in April 2002.
In 2007, Shark Shield introduced the third generation of products to replace the original FREEDOM4, expanding the range of products offered to include the SCUBA7, which replaced the original DIVE01, and introducing two new designs: the FREEDOM7, a versatile option that can be used by a broad range of ocean-users, including scuba divers, spearfishers, boaters and kayakers; and the SURF7, designed to be fitted onto a surfboard or stand-up paddleboard to offer surfers protection from sharks.
In 2016, following two-years of research and product development, Shark Shield announced the FREEDOM+ Surf a product specifically designed for surfers. It removed the trailing antenna of the older SURF7 being replaced with a sticker thin decal antenna on the underside of the surfboard, with the removable power generator located in the kicker of the tail pad.
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Wikipedia