This is a somewhat misleading statistic as people on average don't spend much time swimming near shark in the ocean. There are probably people who are ~10,000-100,000 times more likely to be killed by sharks than average. due to spending ~100-1,000 times as much time in the ocean and swimming in 10-100x higher risk areas.
PS: On average world wide my guess is the average person spends <1 hour per year in the water as large numbers of people never swim in the ocean and those that do are mostly limited to a few hours a year.
You are right. The numbers are a bit misleading for some specific people. It is a bit like the risk of death from a fall in a cliff, climbers have an increased chance but the average person wont experience any significant risk in their normal activities. My intention was to reduce the fear of shark attacks, a problem that is slowly taking hold in the population. Thank you for your insightful comment.
It's not only about deaths. Injuries (I imagine many are life changing) are important also.
But then I don't think there are that many injuries from shark attacks either.
So what's the point? It's the perceived feeling of safety. People are irrational when they evaluate risks like shark attacks, and for this reason there will be a big market for this even though the risk it mitigates is relatively small.
On the other hand, it might even increase deaths/injuries from sharks as people feel invincible and get closer and more irritating to sharks - moral hazard.
Anyway, just some thoughts typed out as they came to my mind.
My first thought when I saw news about it circulating on social media the other day. From marine biology point of view this project may be interesting, but if you want to save lives... let's just say this is only little more likely than getting struck by lightning and then getting bit by a cobra, so your efforts may be better spent elsewhere.
But then the second thought - from salesman point of view, this is an excellent idea! What better way to earn money than to prey on people's irrational fears? As long as you can say that this suit provably (science!) makes you less likely to be attacked by a shark, you have a goldmine.
It doesn't really matter if the actual occurrence is vanishingly small, what matters is the differential between the consequence of buying the wetsuit and having a shark pass you over (a small number of dollars, hundreds at most), and losing a limb in a shark attack (natural limbs are irreplaceable, prostheses and medical costs will be in the tens of thousands of dollars). That seems like it would make sense for anyone who spends a non-trivial amount of time in the ocean. Most peoples' houses don't burn down, but most people still buy fire insurance.
To what end - raise more hysteria and have us kill them even faster? If it's a "contest" between sharks and humans, I'm pretty sure the sharks are at a massive disadvantage.
i wonder whether it is such a big deal to have a small, like 20m range, hydrolocator built-in the board with some simple software which would be able to identify a 500-3000kg moving body inside that range. Like with submarines, only at like hundreds times smaller scale.
It's not a big deal, but then again you don't go out to work with a radar just in case a wild bear jumps at you at the bus stop, because this basically does not happen. This project is either a hobby endeavour, a really misguided attempt at saving lives, or a brilliant way of making money on people's inability to look up statistics and do the maths.
Several problems here. One is that the sharks can still see the fishy and yummy silhouette of the surfboard. Two, sharks could investigate electric pulses so any electronic device in a surf board could cause problems (unless maybe designed as deflector). They use electroreceptors to find hidden preys.
Other problem is that fish schools or other surfers could trigger the alarm leading to a very stressing day of beach for everybody.
But is a interesting problem and anything that can do that people do not resemble a seal is good for people and also for sharks. Even if is a real shark, and not a dolphin or an unprobable tuna, you will have just seconds to prepare for the hit.
This must be the simpler solution compared to that though. Maybe if people stop dressing up like seals (big black wet suit) they won't look so tastey to the seal eaters.
