Shark-proof wetsuit materials developed by scientists to sustain shark bites

In a recent development, the marine researchers in Flinders University tested a new wetsuit material which could help reduce injuries and blood loss sustained by shark bites. According to a study published in Plos One two types of protective fabrics that incorporate ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibres (UHMWPE) into widely used neoprene material in wetsuits were tested. It was found that the new fabrics were more resistant to lacerations as ten variants of the two fabrics were tested in a laboratory.

Flinders University Associate Professor Charlie Huveneers, from the Southern Shark Ecology Group, said “The aim of this study was to assess the ability of new fabrics incorporated into neoprene to reduce injuries from white shark bites. Our results showed that both fabrics tested may provide some protection against shark bite and could be used as part of a shark bite mitigation strategy. We tested the fabric on white sharks because it is the species responsible for the most fatalities from shark bites.”

The research was positive, however, there is still further research to be done. Professor Huveneers further added that the new fabrics were more resistant to puncture, laceration, and bites from white sharks than standard neoprene. 

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Cases of shark bites

The study comes shortly after the International Shark Attack File released statistics on shark attacks. In a recent incident, two British tourists were bitten by a shark at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The giant fish mauled one's foot and another's leg while they were on a snorkelling tour in the Whitsunday Islands when the incident took place. Paramedics treated both the men aged, 22 and 28 and were also taken to the hospital in Mackay in serious but stable conditions. However, the 28-year-old lost his foot. Another incident took place in Australia when a man was killed by a shark.

In another similar incident, a British tourist who reportedly went missing while snorkelling off the French island of Reunion, near Madagascar was believed to be eaten by a Tiger Shark as a severed hand and forearm found in the stomach of the giant fish was identified by wife through the wedding ring. The victim identified as civil servant Richard Martyn Turner from Edinburgh was on a luxury trip to celebrate his wife's 40th birthday and was snorkelling by himself where four sharks were later caught. Turner had been missing since November 02. It is however still not known whether he drowned and was subsequently eaten by the shark or had been attacked by one.

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