SharkDefense

SharkDefense is a research organization and think tank focused on shark bycatch reduction. Its core research involves chemical and electrochemical shark repellent technologies. SharkDefense's repellent experiments have been featured extensively in the US and European media.

SharkDefense is the discover of the permanent-magnetic and electrochemical repellent effects on sharks. These findings represent the first research efforts focused exclusively at selectively repelling sharks from commercial fishing gear without affecting the target catch. The repellent effect of electropositive metals on sharks was confirmed by the National Marine Fisheries Service, notably, Stoner and Kaimmer, and studies completed by Brill et al. (2008) and Wang et al. (2008) also support the repellent effects. The preliminary research results on permanent magnetic shark repellents were reviewed, judged, and awarded the first place 2006 WWF SmartGear award. In 2008, the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F) and James Cook University (JCU), Australia confirmed that permanent (ferrite) magnets technology repel grey reef sharks, hammerheads, sharp-nosed sharks, blacktip sharks, the vulnerable sawfish and the critically endangered spear tooth shark.

In 2014, SharkDefense partnered with SharkTec LLC to commercialize an aerosol semiochemical shark repellent product. Both companies are working to broaden the commercial use of SharkDefense's technologies.

SharkDefense was formed in September 2001 by Eric Stroud and Jean Stroud. Its research program began at the Oak Ridge Shark Laboratory with a search for trace chemical messengers present in decayed shark tissue. In 1943, Burden et al. from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) had reported that decayed shark tissue was successful at halting feeding in captive dusky smoothound sharks (Mustelis canis). In the efforts to develop and test a chemical shark repellent package led by Dr. Harold Coolidge of the Harvard Museum, the WHOI team selected ammonium acetate as the active in the decomposing shark tissue, however, instrumental analysis by the Oak Ridge Shark Lab in 2002 failed to find ammonium acetate. It was hypothesized by SharkDefense that ammonium acetate was an approximation of the ammonium cation (based on the ammonia-like smell of the shark tissue or a urea-urease reaction), and the acetate conjugate base (based on the acetic acid which WHOI had already found to have repellent properties). After 2002, many new compounds were found and catalogued by SharkDefense, who maintains a repellent compound database.

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