Could the scent of dead sharks be used to protect surfers from attacks?

A father and son from Cardiff are developing a new device which could see the scent of dead sharks being used to protect surfers from attacks.

A father and son from Cardiff - Collin and Simon Brooker - have spent £250,000 over the past few years creating a device called the Podi, which releases the manufactured odour of a dead shark in order to prevent the living creatures from attacking.

Speaking to Wired magazine, Colin said: "I thought if we can make a smell that it doesn't like that encourages it to move on, we'd have something. Sharks generally aren't cannibalistic, so I thought a rotten shark might just scare another shark."

Authorities in Reunion Island - which, according to International Shark Attack File, is responsible for over 16 per cent of the world's shark attacks between 2011 and 2016 - have already been testing out the device.

Colin added: "At first [the government] didn't want to talk to us because they thought we were crazy, but they've been running tests over the last year on existing repellent devices, and I was approached about three months ago to go and assist them.

"We're hoping to go and work with the scientists there by the end of 2018."

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