Can this wetsuit reduce the number of fatal shark attacks?

An Adelaide-born surfer hopes his creation inspired by stab-resistance US prison uniforms has what it takes when it comes to the ocean’s toughest customers.

A wetsuit designed to drastically reduce injuries from shark bites will soon be available to South Australian surfers and divers.

Shark Stop, the brainchild of Adelaide-born and Lennox Head-based surfer and inventor Haydon Burford, uses technology designed to stop stabbings in prison to create a wetsuit resistant to puncture wounds.

Scientific tests with great whites at the Neptune Islands off the coast of Port Lincoln have yielded promising results, and Mr Burford said his suit was now ready for the market.

While he admits that the no suit could mitigate the crushing force of a white shark bite, he’s confident that it will reduce bleeding from tears and lacerations – a major factor in fatal shark attacks.

Testing the Shark Stop material with great whites at South Australia’s Neptune Islands. Picture Flinders Uni

“Blood loss is the main killer, and if you reduce the blood loss you have a very good chance of survival,” Mr Burford said.

He said the idea came to him when he was chatting to a friend about Kevlar-lined jeans designed to reduce motorcycle injuries.

“Around that time we’d had three shark attacks in the local area and my partner Elizabeth said it was a wonder nobody had designed a wetsuit to stop people getting ripped apart by sharks,” Mr Burford said.

“I looked into Kevlar and it was too soggy and too heavy – everything was wrong – and I was just about to give up when I came across a material they were using in the prison system in America to stop people getting stabbed. I thought, ‘jeez, if it can stop a knife blade it should stop a shark’s tooth’.”

Haydon Burford and Liz Strag with the Shark Stop fabric.

Mr Burford sourced the material and worked with a manufacture in Asia to bond it with neoprene to create a fabric which could be made into a wetsuit.

He said there is some loss of flexibility – more of a problem for surfers than divers – but that this has been offset somewhat by using regular neoprene panels in areas that need to stretch.

More tests on the fabric are currently being carried out, but after the first round of tests in 2019 Flinders University shark expert Associate Professor Charlie Huveneers said the results were promising.

“We tested the fabric on white sharks because it is one of the species responsible for the most fatalities from shark bites,” Prof Huveneers said.

“We found that the new fabrics were more resistant to puncture, laceration and bites from white sharks than standard neoprene.”

An example of the Shark Stop Wetsuit. Picture: Supplied

Prof Huveneers said the new fabric will not prevent broken bones or internal injuries, but will reduce blood loss, tissue damage, and the severity of injuries.

“As most fatalities are due to blood loss or shock, any reduction of blood loss would give first aiders or emergency services more time to reach a victim before extensive blood loss and increase survival rate,” he said.

“It will also reduce recovery time as injuries won’t be as extensive.”

Mr Burton said the suit would be available in stores this year, but in the meantime it can be ordered at sharkstop.co for $795 for delivery mid 2022.