A new wetsuit material tested by Flinders University marine researchers in Australia has been proven to help reduce blood loss caused by shark bites, to reduce injuries and prevent the leading cause of death.
The study published in Plos One tested two types of protective fabrics that incorporate ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibres (UHMWPE) into widely used neoprene material (a form of synthetic rubber) in wetsuits and compared their resistance to bites against standard neoprene without protective layers.
The UHMWPE fibre was either glued as a layer on top or on either side of the neoprene (referred to by manufacturers as SharkStop) or bonded into multiple layers between neoprene layers (referred to as ActionTX). SharkStop has been developed over the past three years by Haydon Burford in conjunction with Andrew Fox from Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions.
According to the Plos One study, the incidence of shark bites in Australia increased from one to three per year in the 1980s to more than 10 per year from 2010 onwards.
Growth in the human population, habitat modification and destruction, water quality, climate change and anomalous weather patterns, and the distribution and abundance of prey have all been proposed to explain this recent increase in the incidence of shark bites.
Burford and Fox sought the expertise of Dr Charlie Huveneers, Associate Professor at Flinders University, and research leader at the Southern Shark Ecology Group (SSEG).
Dr Huveneers designed a laboratory and field study to test the ability of the fabric to reduce injuries from white shark bites.
The ability of the fabrics to reduce injuries from shark bites was also tested by enticing white sharks to bite the fabric covering dense foam wrapped around a wooden board.
Bite sequences were filmed with the overall intensity, intensity of head shakes, and number of bites, recorded for each sequence.
“We found that the new fabrics were more resistant to puncture, laceration, and bites from white sharks than standard neoprene,” says Huveneers.
“More force was required to puncture the new fabrics compared to control fabrics (laboratory-based tests), and cuts made to the new fabrics were smaller and shallower than those on standard neoprene from both types of test, ie laboratory and field tests,” says Huveneers.
He adds that the results are positive, but more testing is required in an incorporated wetsuit design and on the potential damage to human flesh underneath for more robust recommendations.
