Cape Cod Researchers Look At Chasing Away Seals In Hopes Sharks Will Follow
ORLEANS (CBS) - It's becoming that time of year: when the white sharks return to Cape Cod to feast on seals.
But two researchers are wondering if the sharks would still come if you chase away the seals with radio signals.
"You can focus our beam, and create a dome...the seals will not like," says Willie Planinshek.
And the system would not be placed on the ocean surface, which gets rough. It would be anchored on the sea floor.
"Developing technology like this to put on the sea floor is something that acoustic engineers and mechanical engineers have done for many years," said developer Kevin McCarthy.
The island south of Chatham is home to an estimated 20,000 seals and they roam up and down the Cape Cod coast; it's a feast for sharks.
"It will go to their sensory receptors between their ears and make them uncomfortable, and it'll change their instinct and they'll naturally move to more friendly waters," Planinshek said
Now....all they have to do is build the prototype and test it. They'll also have to get permission to try it. Seals are federally protected, meaning you can't kill them or alter their behavior.
