BOLDE wetsuits do not knowingly affect the behaviour of sharks.
There are a lot of different products that claim they deter sharks; however, it is important to remember that this is a new industry and one that is still unregulated. Therefore, anyone can make a claim about a product deterring sharks, even without any scientific research to back it up.
Some of the products currently on the market include electronic deterrents, wetsuits, magnets, oils, mimicking eyes, acoustic emitters, repellent spray, and surfboard wax. Currently, electronic deterrents are the only types of personal deterrents (with empirical evidence) to substantially reduce the probability of a shark bite (Bradshaw et al. 2021).
A study tested five personal shark deterrents for surfers with variable results (Huveneers et al. 2018). Ocean Guardian’s Freedom + Surf had the most effect on shark behaviour, reducing the percentage of bait taken from 96% to 40%, while all other deterrents had no measurable effect on shark behaviour.
Peer reviewed studies such as this are important, as ineffective products may give people a false sense of protection, encouraging them to take greater risks than they otherwise would.
