Product: Fishing
Wetsuit EMP disguise.   (+5)  [vote for, against]
Use the sixth sense of under water predators to disguise divers.

As is well known sharks and other predators of the sea use directional electromagnetic sensitivity to evaluate prey. This is a very powerful sense functions effectively only at short range and is used to evaluate the type size and orientation of prey as well as guiding the final lunge. I propose that a very fine array of wires be installed in wesuits to decoy this sense. It is already known that weak decoy signals can cause a shark to call of a lunge or lunge in the wrong location missing entirely. Constructing a false, possibly fluctuating, EMR signature into suits could make a diver appear inedibly large or otherwise not worth fooling with without making the diver more detectable from a distance. A small battery pack would be adequate to power the unit. In addition a panic pad that suddenly amplified the output could be provided to deter a shark attracted by blood. A similar system could be installed on the underside of surfboards to deter curiosity. I suspect that resembling a huge manofwar or other inedible would suffice.
-- WcW, Sep 15 2008

Electric field shark repellent wet suit patent http://www.freepate...ne.com/7233829.html
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 15 2008]

fascinating http://www.physorg.com/news10587.html
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 16 2008]

Looks like it's worth a try. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24484864/
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 16 2008]

Occasionally your buddy or other people on the boat get shocked if you neglect to turn it off http://www.diveus.c...m-7-scuba-model.htm
[normzone, Sep 19 2008]

but does it work?
-- WcW, Sep 16 2008


<shrugs>
Give me a sec.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 16 2008


It's a definite maybe. [link]age
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 16 2008


i can't find more than cursory references to this being baked. Is it possible that while in theory this is baked but not in application?
-- WcW, Sep 17 2008


"Constructing a false, possibly fluctuating, EMR signature into suits could make a diver appear inedibly large..."

Like an enormous, tempting, extremely edible school of fish, for instance?
-- sambwiches, Sep 17 2008


or a huge Fugu or another shark or something, is there a marine biologist in the house? Identifying something that a shark wouldn't take a nip at may be the real problem here....
-- WcW, Sep 18 2008


Dolphins apparently kick f*** out of sharks. Does that mean feasibly sharks have evolved to avoid sonar signals ?

You could send out a load of 'hunt-and-destroy' dolphiny sonar clicks ? (simulating like a pod of 400 or something?).
-- monojohnny, Sep 18 2008


I've been fishwatching on scuba before and had everything on the reef duck and cover simultaneously. Gives me the heebie-jeebies, it does.
-- normzone, Sep 19 2008



random, halfbakery