Faraday Cage Wetsuit

Faraday cage wetsuit prevents sharks from detecting tiny electrical signals from divers’ muscles.

21:33 14 July 2016

Sharks and other marine animals are able to detect the presence of humans through their muscle movement. HECS Aquatics has built a Faraday cage into a wetsuit that works like an underwater invisibility cloak, blocking electrical signals from being sent out.

 

The new wetsuit, which is now available in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico and the United States, allows divers to get close to sharks, lobsters, crayfish, rays, eels, lampreys, ratfish, lungfish, sturgeons and some dolphins undetected.

 

Dave Abbot, a filmmaker in New Zealand who tested the wetsuit, said: I've noticed a marked difference in how close I can approach certain marine life underwater while wearing the HECS suit – a worthwhile advantage for any cameraman,'

 

'[The] first time diving in my HECS suit I got all three cray species in the one dive. I never thought it would be possible or this easy,' said Jordan Murley, a marine biologist.

 

'The crays were slow or non responsive to touch and movement when I was wearing the HECS suit.'

 

'During a recent trip to the Bahamas I had the opportunity to wear the HECS dive skin,' said Jason Scanlon, a diving instructor.

 

'During the first set of dives I started to notice that most of the wild life ignored me and would swim around and near me as if I wasn’t even there.

 

'I was able to get very close to the life, which allowed me to capture photos and video that others on the dive could not. As the week progressed I noticed that most of the life would treat me as if I were one of them instead of an intruder into their space, some even ran into me.'