Shark Shield Tested

https://bgr.com/2019/03/14/shark-deterrents-tested-study/

Thanks for posting the article 

That's actually not a test of Shark Shield, but of a competing product called "Electronic Shark Defense System (ESDS)"

https://www.scubaonline.com.au/dive-gear/?seo=10&pid=4858

Also, in the study cited in that article, they state, "In field tests with C. carcharias, the Shark Shield was shown to be an effective deterrent ... capable of reducing interactions with bait by an average of 82.7% ..."

As I read it, the particular study cited in that article only considered "static" interactions (meaning that the bait was sitting still), with the bait 4m below the surface. Even the Shark Shield does not do much in that case, at least according to the most thorough study (IMHO) done to date, which you can find here:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0062730

Finally, for kayakers on the surface, the effect of a deterrent on "dynamic" interactions (which are designed to simulate cases where a shark attacks a seal at the surface) are likely far more important than static interactions. If you look at this table (which comes from the "most thorough" study that I mentioned above), you'll see that the Shark Shield had a huge (positive) effect on dynamic interactions:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0062730.t004

What the table shows is that with the Shark Shield on, there were 0 breaches and 2 "surface interactions", while for a comparable number of tests with the Shark Shield off, they had 16 breaches and 27 "surface interactions". Differences of that sort do not happen by random chance...

SS  is standard equipment with the Australian Navy divers

That's actually not a test of Shark Shield, but of a competing product called "Electronic Shark Defense System (ESDS)"

The team had previously tested another brand of electronic shark deterrent called Shark Shield, and while both it and the ESDS claim to work in a similar manner, the Shark Shield actually proved to be worth its price. The Shark Shield kept sharks at an average distance of around 1.3 meters, the researchers say

I'll consider myself part of the experiment, within the SS users.  If I get munched, you can say that at least I advanced science. 

Good post!