Great White Shark

'In Western Australia, there's been a shocking rise in the number of fatal shark attacks.'

The power of this beast in the water was just amazing.

'Now the government is fighting back with a controversial scheme to kill sharks.'

It's their water, stop the slaughter!

'Can science provide a better approach?'

We're off on what might be the greatest adventure of our lives.

'My name is Mark Evans.

I'm a veterinary scientist with a personal interest in conflict between humans and animals.'

That was amazing.

'I want to test some new technologies...' Bull's-eye, we have it.

'..that could help keep people safe... ..without killing sharks.'

Whoa!

That was a big fish!

Magnificent!

'On the coast of Western Australia is the country's fourth largest city Perth.

It's a paradise for ocean lovers, with 50 miles of sandy beaches and surf breaks.

Thousands of people enter the water every day to swim, kayak and surf.'

Loads of Australian families come down here to relax, to enjoy the beach, to enjoy the sun and enjoy the ocean.

'But there's a growing problem.'

(NEWS REPORT) Shark attack, a 20-year-old woman bitten by a three-meter shark... A number of shark sightings have raised alarm bells and forced the evacuation... 'This coastline has been dubbed the shark attack capital of the world and people are scared.'

An imminent threat order has been issued by the Department of Fisheries.

It's the third fatal shark attack in W.A.

in less than two months.

'The water off Perth's popular Mullaloo Beach was the site of a shocking attack in 2012.

This is the aftermath of the bite by a ten-foot Great White Shark.

The attack took place just 500 feet off shore.

At 7am, a group of friends set out on a morning paddle.'

Martin, talk me through what happened.

Paddling along, passed a group of dolphins that had rafted up.

They were just floating, I didn't recognize the signal, of course, that there was a predator in the area checking things out.

I got ahead, just had a bit of time to reflect on life.

I said, "Gee, things can't get really any better."

Suddenly, I just heard this almighty bang, it was like my ski had exploded.

And I thought, "What the hell was that?"

And it wasn't until I came to the surface, I saw the head of the shark, dorsal fin, tail was going absolutely ballistic.

'The shark hit with such force that Martin was thrown three feet in the air.

He had no choice but to swim for his life.'

(MARTIN) The power of this beast in the water was just amazing.

And, of course, stupid here says, "It's a shark, get out of here, it's a shark!"

Because I knew I was dead, I absolutely knew I was gone, there was no way I was gonna escape this beast.

What was going through my mind was... "The shark's gonna come in and bite me in two, or the shark's gonna come up behind me and take my legs off."

'Martin's friends hauled him onto a surf ski and paddled away.'

So, we got to shore and the most frightening part was, got to shore, got off the skis, stumbled up onto the sand, and all I could see was this massive dorsal fin going round my ski.

And I thought, "Oh, God, I am just so lucky!"

'Martin certainly was lucky.

Great White Sharks can grow as much as 20 feet in length and weigh more than a ton.

Despite their size, they've been known to fatally bite people in Perth in water only waist-deep.

In an ambush attack, they aim to inflict a killer blow with their first bite, leaving a person with little chance of survival.

Humans aren't these sharks' preferred prey, however, and many deaths are likely the result of exploratory bites rather than targeted hunting.

Nevertheless, it's an extraordinarily difficult task to keep people safe from such fast-moving stealth predators once we enter their habitat.

Great Whites are thought to be responsible for the deaths of seven people in Western Australia since 2011 a worrying increase over the previous years.

The attacks all happened on the coastline around Perth.

The most recent death was a man mauled while surfing.

Before that, a swimmer disappeared at the same beach Martin Kane was attacked.

But it was an unprecedented five deaths in just one year that gave the area its deadly reputation.

The first person to die was also the youngest - 21-year-old body boarder Kyle Burden.'

(NEWSREADER) Kyle Burden was body boarding at a popular beach in W.A.

's southwest when he was attacked by a shark on Sunday.

The victim's mother traveled to W.A.

from Queensland.

She thanked police, emergency services and particularly her son's friend for trying to save his life.

You showed amazing courage to bring him back to shore without any regard for your own safety and we thank you so much for staying and being with Kyle that day.

'I'm meeting up with Kyle's mother, Sharon Burden, before I start investigating what might be done to help prevent such attacks.'

Kyle was my only child and he was very energetic, loved the outdoors, very independent, and... Yeah, he was my best friend, I guess.

Just a couple of weeks before he died, one of his mates actually told me that he'd said that when he was in the ocean, that's when he felt most at peace.

He understood there were sharks, had been attacks down there before, but his love of the ocean was far greater than his fear of what could happen.

'The spike in shark-related deaths has become a big political issue here.

And now a controversial policy has been announced.'

Western Australia is set to start a cull on sharks bigger than three meters.

'The plan calls for any big Great White, Tiger or Bull sharks that come within half a mile of Perth's beaches to be killed.

A series of baited hooks called drum lines will be set off shore.

It seems like a desperate tactic to kill these large sharks particularly as Great Whites are a protected species in Australia.

Many people are speaking out against the policy... ..even Kyle's mother.'

What do you think about the drum lines?

The biggest problem I have with it, I guess, is that it's an endangered species.

People who are frightened just want to remove the threat... ..rather than learning how to live with it.

So that issue about fear... ..almost is at the heart of this whole battle?

For me, absolutely.

It's not an acceptable solution.

My personal belief is that we need to conquer our fear and not our wildlife.

'I agree with Sharon.

I think there's an unfair portrayal of sharks as mindless killing machines.

But that's easy for me to say - I've never confronted one in the water.

But that's about to change.

In Southern Australia, I'm joining a research scientist studying Great Whites.'

Definitely got everything?

'Dr.

Charlie Huveneers is investigating whether attracting sharks to tourist boats has an effect on their behavior.

It's a practice banned in Western Australia and tightly regulated here.

Charlie aims to monitor the movement of the sharks by fitting electronic tracking tags to their back.'

So, inside here, you've got a battery, the electronics and part of that is the transmitter?

If you actually put it next to your ear, you are able to hear the little... a bit of a ticking noise, so put it behind your ear.

Put the end bit behind your ear, like before.

- It sounds like... - Oh, quite high-pitched.

- Pip, pip, pip, pip, pip.

- That's right.

'Charlie will use a tagging gun to attach the tracker.'

So it just pushes, that goes straight through the skin?

So imagine it going straight through there.

That comes back out and that's then held in.

And it opens up, fixing that tag into the shark.

'Charlie fires the tagging gun from inside a cage underwater.

And I'll be joining him.'

We just have to hope the shark will get close enough to us and it'll be sweet!

The tough thing for Charlie, is to be able to make sure that the shark is in the right position to be able to put the tag in, and that's a lot harder to do than it sounds.

'It's my first time in a shark cage, and I have to admit, I'm a bit nervous.

On the surface, a crew member uses tuna as bait to lure the sharks within firing range.'

Can you see any your side?

- There's one just there.

- That one right in front?

I tell you what, it's an extraordinary sensation when the best part of a ton of fish comes barreling towards you and literally just aborts only two feet in front of your face.

My God, it makes you think!

They just come and they go almost out of the darkness.

That was tantalizingly close.

(Charlie chuckles) Yeah, too close for the tag.

Looks like it's coming back towards the bait.

Too fast.

Charlie, that one had a good long look at you.

'When hunting prey such as seals, Great Whites attack from below at speeds of up to 30 miles an hour - so fast, they launch themselves out of the water.

Charlie needs to wait until one swims past more slowly to ensure he can fit a tag securely just below the dorsal fin.'

This will be a good one, probably.

- Great shot, Charlie!

- Perfect.

Perfect shot, well done!

Good effort, that!

That was a good location.

'It's a perfect shot.

The barbed end of the tag penetrates the skin but the shark barely notices and is soon back for another go at the tuna.'

Whoa!

(Laughs) That was a big fish and it was very, very close!

Magnificent!

They are mesmerizingly beautiful to watch swimming.

It seems almost effortless for them.

'Charlie manages to tag two sharks before we have to surface.'

Wow!

What an experience!

To see them underwater is just...

I don't know, it blows your mind, really.

'These sharks are a crucial part of the ocean's ecosystem, so the idea of killing them to keep people safe just isn't right.'

That was amazing.

Absolutely amazing.

'Previous data from tagged Great Whites has shown some pattern to their movement up the Western Australian coast.

But it's still impossible to predict when they'll come close to shore and threaten people.

Protecting Perth's citizens from such a well-adapted predator is not gonna be easy.

One option is installing barriers to create safe enclosures.

A trial has been popular with families and children swimming close to the shore, but barriers are no use for surfers.

Scaring sharks away is another option.

But research into deterrents that could protect an entire beach is still in its early stages.

I'm convinced that to help prevent attacks, the number one priority must be an effective early-warning system.

So what's already being done?

Perth's Surf Lifesaving organization operates a network of lifeguards who keep a keen eye out for sharks.

Their Surf Comm.

H.Q.

coordinates the response, which includes closing beaches and alerting the public.'

City Roving, this is Surf Comm., over.

There's been a 1.8 meter shark sighted off of Hale Road, so we wondered if you'd be able to head down that way and check it out.

So this is the nerve center, then?

So what would normally happen is, information comes in from the front line.

Our role in this is to get timely and accurate information out to the public so they can make informed decisions about their behavior.

'Information is distributed quickly via social media websites.

It includes automatic alerts from any sharks with an electronic tag detected in the area.'

So as soon as the tag goes off and it sends it up to the database through the satellite system, it comes back down the other way into our Twitter feed.

The idea is, we know the shark there so it's a confirmed sighting but it's the speed of getting that information to people.

I am a big fan of this, because it allows the general public, all these people here, to make properly- informed decisions about where, when and how they use the ocean.

'Surf Comm.

H.Q.

's rapid communication allows beaches to be closed within minutes of a sighting or tag detection.

But with only a limited number of sharks tagged, the system is only as good as the ability to detect the untagged sharks in the first place and this is easier said than done.

Many of the sightings come from the Surf Lifesavers helicopter.

As well as rescuing people in trouble, they also scan for sharks as they patrol the surf.

I've been offered a chance to join a patrol and see for myself how they look out for sharks.

A 13-foot long shark has been sighted off a nearby beach just an hour ago, so I might even spot one myself.'

How far out are you tending to scan and look?

So your standard patrols would be at this kind of height?

'The crew insist they can easily spot sharks by eye.

But there's a lot going on down there and it looks like a difficult job to me.'

So, over the sand, it's not too bad, but once these guys are over the reef or over sea grass, it must be much more difficult.

'Spotting with the naked eye is easiest when sharks are in shallow water lit by strong sunlight.

Otherwise, they are hard to see.

Worryingly, a recent scientific study here suggests this type of helicopter monitoring detects less than 20 per cent of the sharks in an area.

And this isn't good enough.

The spotters need help.'

These guys are very good at spotting sharks but it's so, so condition dependent and that is a real problem.

The helicopter makes people feel safe but it's not just about feeling safe, it's about being safe - they need to be able to rely on this service.

'It seems to me that if we could spot more sharks from the air, the fantastic alert system here could offer the public even better protection.

To find a solution to this problem, I'm flying halfway around the world... ..to San Diego, California.

This naval city is home to some of the most advanced research into detecting underwater objects, and there's a company here which specializes in aerial imaging.

They're called SciFly and their military ties mean they have access to some exciting technology.

Eddie Kisfaludy is their CEO and chief test pilot.'

Eddie?

- Mark.

- How are you?

- Good to meet you.

- Yeah, good to see you.

Cool.

So what does SciFly do?

So what we do here is, we mount instruments onto the airplane or the helicopter, to find things that would be otherwise very difficult to see with the human eye.

So your kind of lab in the sky is this thing, is it?

This is a flying laboratory, exactly.

And what's great about it is this mount.

We can mount cameras, radars, data links to it and it's a flying experimental platform where somebody can come, put something new on here and we can go out and see if it works.

'Choosing the right camera is crucial.'

If we take a standard camera, put it on the airplane and point it at the ocean, it fills the image with lots of reflection, lots of glare, and you can't really see.

This is a big problem, and it's one of the things the military has asked us to try to solve.

'As well as testing military detection systems, Eddie is a marine biologist.

He's led many expeditions researching ocean predators.

He knows first hand how difficult it is to spot marine animals from the air and has offered to take me to a place where sharks regularly congregate to show me the problem.'

You can see them down here, just to the right of where the kayaks are.

(EDDIE) Yep, that's them.

They're Leopard Sharks - harmless to humans and less than five feet long.

That's a lot of sharks together.

I would guess to be somewhere around 500 sharks just right here in this half a football field.

You've got the black Leopard Sharks on a white background.

'But when we circle round and face reflections from the sun, they become much more difficult to spot.'

It's pretty good conditions today, and there's some cloud so it's not as sunny, but I mean, still, the glare on the water is just crazy.

This direction, you can see nothing, it's like looking into some kind of mirror.

If you happen to be flying past them at that point, - you'd go, "There's no sharks there."

- Exactly.

'I've heard about a camera that I think could help solve this problem.

It's made by a company called Advanced Coherent Technologies.

Behind a ten-inch-thick steel security door, Jon Schoonmaker pioneers military grade tech.'

So, what cameras are available, Jon?

This was designed specifically to look on the surface and below the surface of the ocean.

It's been used in the past to do search and rescue applications.

Being able to find things on or in water automatically, to get rid of the glare or whatever's being reflected from the surface.

'It's a quarter-million dollar system.

There are five separate lenses.

Four are tuned to detect specific colors and the fifth is a video camera, which helps an operator aim properly.

The rig is called a multi-spectral camera.'

- So this is the video camera here is it, the big lens?

- Yes.

Okay.

'The system has been tested for the U.S. Navy to search for underwater targets that mimic mines.'

So this is a real test you did out at sea?

So, these red dots are orange buoys, that we've laid out to mark positions of the underwater targets that we put in.

'Each of the four lenses is tuned to a particular color range.'

This is the blue band, there's a green band, there's a red band, and a near I.R.

band.

'The red and infrared filter out glare and anything floating on the surface, while the blue and green help target objects underwater.'

So then you get a filtered image, and the targets will pop out.

So these three here, are submerged?

(DANIEL) Yes.

My God, that's amazing!

'This system has never been used to spot Great White Sharks before, but I think it could help in Perth.

The camera will need to be tuned to the specific color of a submerged Great White.

Operated from a plane, or perhaps even a remotely controlled drone, it could fly twice the height of the helicopter spotters and much faster scanning a wide area.

Sharks would be much more reliable detected through this hi-tech system than by eye.

But first we have to prove it can work.

To run a trial, we'll need to know the exact depth and location of the sharks.

So we're gonna build our own shark test dummies...' Do you want to grab the paint in the back?

'..out of plywood.

I'm modeling my shark cut-outs on those used by the Australian research trial that concluded helicopter spotters were seeing less than 20 per cent of sharks with the naked eye.

Eddie's had paint mixed to match the color of a shark.'

White Shark gray.

Okay, look, these are quite good images in terms of reference.

Yeah, that does look good.

'The multi-spectral camera is set up to detect very specific colors, so I need my models to be as realistic as possible.'

That looks really close, especially the back top.

Can you do a proper job?

I have standards.

'The next morning, Eddie and I meet at the coast.

We're going to deploy two shark cut-outs to see what they look like underwater.'

Do you know, as this paint's gone off, it's got better, hasn't it?

'cause it has got lighter.

'We're gonna sink the cut-outs a couple of miles apart and a mile or so offshore.'

(MARK) So, what have we got, 27 feet depth?

- Yeah, 27, 26.

- Okay.

This is a good spot here.

In you go, sharkie.

Looks pretty cool, doesn't it?

It does.

It floats well, it looks like a Gray Shark.

The weight should be enough to pull the shark down under the water.

Let me get the depth.

Right, that's resting on top of the shark, and that's a meter, which is perfect, okay?

Do you want to mark that as a waypoint so we've got it in the nav?

Alright, we've got it marked here.

Go to the next spot.

'GPS waypoints will allow us to head directly to the cut-outs in an aircraft.

That'll be critical for this next shark that we're sinking to ten feet and will be much harder to spot.'

Right, let's head back.

Sharks deployed.

'We want to see how easily our shark cut-outs can be seen with the naked eye.

First, we head towards the one that's three feet below the surface.'

I've got it down here.

At nine o'clock, yeah.

My God, that is really realistic.

That really works.

(EDDIE) Yeah, we did a good job on that.

(MARK) My biggest concern was the color.

And that gray is pretty spot on.

But again, it's just disappeared in the glare.

'Next up...the shark that's ten feet down.'

Okay, so we know it's out here somewhere.

Yeah, somewhere.

Eddie, this is extraordinary, I can see the buoy, the white buoy, it's gone now in the...

Even that's disappeared.

There it is.

But I cannot see the cut-out at all.

'Only ten feet below the surface, it's completely invisible.'

If this was a spotting trip, we'd be going, "There's nothing here, people can enjoy the beach."

What a mistake that would be.

I would say, "The coast is clear, guys, come on out."

Yeah.

'Back at the hangar, it's time to test the multi-spectral camera.

Systems operator Daniel has calibrated it to detect the shark-gray color of our cut-outs.

Computer servers will process the data and we should be able to see images in real time when we fly over the site.'

- Okay, are we ready to taxi?

- Yeah, you can taxi.

Alright, we're off on what might be the greatest adventure of our lives.

So this is just the video output?

This is the video, so this is how I control the gimbal.

I can move it around, wherever I want.

'To make it a fair test, we'll fly at 600 feet - the same height as our helicopter spotting flight.

Eddie's using the GPS coordinates to ensure we fly over the target.'

So we're on track now, directly at our target.

So I'm just watching the video monitors to see if I can spot it with my eyes and a normal camera.

Daniel's checking the feeds from the multi-spectral.

(EDDIE) 15.

Ten.

So this is the moment of truth.

(EDDIE) Five.

Target.

Nothing.

'We've got no multi-spectral image showing up.'

And that's the accurate GPS, isn't it, from the boat?

(EDDIE) Right over it, yeah.

I knew, Eddie, it was going far too well this morning, you know.

Oh, that might be why right there.

Let's try this.

You know you're sitting next to a geek when he pulls up a window full of code that is utterly, utterly meaningless, and he just goes, "Oh, yeah, that might be the problem," and just deletes about five digits in the code.

And you go, "Oh, my God."

(DANIEL) Uh, let's try this again.

'We head back for another pass.'

(EDDIE) Five.

Target.

- Not picking it up.

- No.

'Still no multi-spectral image.

We're pretty sure we're recording the data but we're unable to view the processed images 'live' in the air.'

Every run gives us a bit more information for the camera.

We've done maybe 20 runs over the cut-outs in the water, both the shallow one and the deeper one.

It's a really important test, because if it can't see them, we've gotta start from scratch.

'Daniel will process the data we collected to see what images the multi-spectral camera has captured.

Then, somehow, we need to make the system display these images in real time.

No pressure, Daniel!

I'll leave him to it.

Back in Perth, the urgent need for a solution is brought into sharp focus.'

Less than 24 hours after the first drum lines were set in the state's southwest, a shark has been captured, killed and dumped out at sea.

The animal, believed to be a three-meter Tiger Shark, was caught this morning on a baited line near Dunsborough and shot with a rifle.

The government won't confirm the species.

It's the first shark to be destroyed under its controversial catch and kill policy.

Front page headlines, first catch, there you go.

That picture says it all.

A beautiful Tiger Shark in the water but with a massive hook through its mouth and a fisherman with a rifle to its head shooting it dead.

You know, and this paper is claiming that the drum line policy recorded its first 'success' yesterday.

'I'm keen to hear first hand why the government is doing this.

The Fisheries minister in charge of the policy is Ken Baston.'

Hello.

Ken, Mark Evans.

Pleased to see you, Mark.

Thank you very much for agreeing to see me.

Thank you.

I get a little annoyed when people talk that we're culling sharks, because we're not culling sharks, we've got a shark mitigation policy.

I just, for interest, and I say this on numerous occasions, there's some 370 species of sharks in the world, and of that, in Western Australia, we have 100.

So we're only selecting out of that 100 species, three species of shark.

But, obviously, the Great White is protected here.

So that's created an understandable controversy.

But it's always been that it's protected except in imminent danger, in other words, if somebody's gonna get taken by the Great White, then that's imminent danger.

As a government, would you have rather been able to implement something that was non lethal?

I think any government would say that.

If you had some radar going along the ocean floor that no shark came past, it would be simple.

We're actually open to anything that's actually going to make it easier to predict when there's a shark in the area, where the shark is, and of course, where it's heading type of thing.

Anything like that, I think is really important.

'It's good to hear the minister is open to new ways of detecting sharks, but for me, the drum line policy is misguided.

Killing sharks is not the answer.'

And that puts the pressure on me and the scientists to come up with a different approach.

'I'm certain a more reliable early-warning detection system would be a much more useful and intelligent approach to protecting people.

But while work on the camera system continues, I want to see if it's possible to deter sharks away from beaches.

I've heard about a popular device for repelling sharks which sounds intriguing.

It's called Shark Shield.

It works by targeting a sense a shark uses during hunting.

Small pores on the snout are actually special organs called the Ampullae of Lorenzini.

They detect tiny electrical fields produced by prey when they contract their muscles.

This sense is very sensitive, so the Shark Shield aims to overload it with a strong electromagnetic pulse, an unpleasant experience for any shark close by.'

So, how do you use it?

Well, this particular one is for a surfboard.

This part here has got all the electronic gadgetry and the battery.

And this bit here's got the electrodes in it, so that trails off behind you in the water.

So this actually has to be...

The two electrodes have to be immersed in water for it to emit the pulse which gives you the protection.

It's really just a matter of switching it on, waiting for the green light and in theory, you're protected.

It's quite a long tail that goes out behind you.

Yeah, that's how it works.

It gives you a bit of a jolt if you touch it in the water, it's got quite a bit of voltage so you can feel it.

'The device has a range of just a few feet.

But tests using seal decoys towed behind a boat turned back some sharks even when they were moving in fast for the kill.

I can see the appeal of these products for personal use, anything that might give you a bit of time to escape seems worth a try.

But surely rather than rely on such a deterrent, it would be better to avoid such close encounters in the first place.

I want to see whether there's anything else that could repel a shark over a longer distance, and to do that, I'll need to find out more about the brain of a shark.

At the University of Western Australia, Professor Shaun Collin leads a team researching shark physiology.

The walnut-sized brain of a seven-foot Great White Shark offers clues about which sense is best targeted to deter an attack.

It turns out that the portion of the brain given over to sight the optic tectum is particularly large.

Studying the eye itself shows that retinal cells are concentrated at the base of the eye, where light from above the shark hits.

So they're evolved to see objects higher in the water.'

By looking under the microscope, we can actually assess what part of the visual field they're looking into when they're striking for prey or looking for predators, etcetera.

The Great White is quite specialized, where they're really targeting things above them in mid-water.

'Understanding the importance of sight to a hunting shark helped the team design a novel repellent.

It's a wetsuit based on a natural warning pattern that of a sea snake.'

This one is definitely the "I'm here and you don't want to eat me" approach and this is based on some anecdotal evidence, really, that sharks avoid sea snakes, specifically banded sea snakes.

'The wetsuits don't claim to repel all attacks but the first batch did sell out quickly.

It's an interesting approach but it's still unproven as a reliable deterrent.

And it's not a solution that'll work for large numbers of people on a beach.

But Shaun's team are looking at deterrents that could protect wider areas too.

I'm joining them for a test of a repellent aimed at a shark's sense of hearing.'

That's the speaker and we'll be putting that on this side of the arena.

We're going to attract the animals with a food reward, if you like, just to stimulate them to come close to the speaker.

- So do you want the speaker?

- Yes, please.

There you go.

That's all then hooked up... the speaker's hooked up to this laptop.

There's very little known about the hearing capabilities of sharks and so there's only a couple of labs in the world that have really tried to do this.

So we're one of these, and the most active presently.

So this is pretty cutting edge stuff going on here for your PHD?

Yes, brilliant!

'It's been suggested that the sound of killer whales could deter sharks.

But that would also affect the behavior of other animals in the area.

Previous studies have shown that it's sudden changes in frequency or pitch that are most likely to repel sharks.

So Lucille has created an artificial sound that she wants to test.'

- If you wanna put a fish... - Where's the fish go?

If you can try and drop it just in front of the speaker.

Right, okay.

Fish going in Lucille, yeah?

(electronic whining music) - That was clear.

- That was very clear.

As soon as the animal went to bite the piece of fish that you've just dropped in, an instantaneous reaction away from the stimulus.

(MARK) She absolutely hates Lucille's music.

That's true.

'It's an intriguing thought that a sound could scare away dangerous sharks before they approach a beach.

The team has taken their testing out to the field but it's too early to say if it could be useful in Perth.

And there are concerns about how it could affect other marine life.

Before I head back to San Diego, I want to check out another detection technology being tested here in Australia.'

- This one?

- Yep.

It's like a really cunning puzzle, this.

We're actually travelling quite light, but... there's a lot of kit to get in a not a massive aircraft.

We're pretty heavy, so it's quite a long take-off roll.

There we go.

'I'm heading 500 miles north of Perth.'

From up here at 3,500 feet, you get a real sense of the arena in which shark conflict occurs.

'I'm already investigating how to detect sharks from the air, so now I want to see if I can detect them from underwater.'

One of the tools I'm really keen to have a go with out here is sonar.

I think it could well have some part to play in an early-warning alert system.

It seems there's a scientist here in Australia who's had the very same idea and he's in the very early stages of trialing sonar.

Good, Shark Bay, we're here.

Let's get this sonar fired up.

'At Ocean Park Aquarium, I've arranged to join Dr.

Miles Parsons for a trial of sonar on captive sharks.'

Right, that's rigged.

Sorted.

'We've rigged a portable sonar system to a 12-foot pole.

A cable will give us a live feed, so now we want to test it out on the sharks here.'

Okay, so how deep?

(MILES) Put it about 30-50cm under.

Yeah, start with that.

'Sonar works by sending out sound waves and listening for the echo from a target.

Theoretically, if this works, sonar deployed along Perth's beaches might provide an early warning of shark activity.

For the sound waves to reflect, they need to hit something with a different density to water.'

(MILES) The differences we have in density are with the liver, with the dorsal plate and with the jaw.

- Have you got an image, Kim?

- Yes, we have.

Did you see that?

- Yeah, did something go for it?

- What was it?

- (laughter) - Was it a large shark?

It was a large shark!

- It was the big one?

- Really big, yeah.

'The aquarium is small, so there are a lot of reflections from the background.

But that allows us to see the "shadows" created by the sharks.

(KIM) That's a shark you can see here.

There's the shadow.

And you can see the shadow.

(MARK) Are you getting an image off the sharks themselves?

Yeah, we've an image of the shark, it's about three meters away from you.

Then we can see the shadow as well, behind it.

So let's have a look.

- Have you got one coming in from the left?

- Yes, I have.

(MILES) About 2.5 meters away, that's the big one, moving away, swimming off to the right.

It's such a large target and we're getting... a good reflectance off the body and you can see its tail moving there as it swims along.

'Miles hopes to test the equipment on wild sharks in the future, but it's still a long way from being a viable approach.

I've seen lots of potential solutions but nothing that seems completely reliable or ready for deployment off Perth's beaches.

So I think that aerial spotting remains the best bet for now.

Back in San Diego, I want to see if we can overcome the problems we faced in our first trial.

Daniel has been battling hard to solve the problem.

He's reprogrammed the system to enhance the multi-spectral images.'

Daniel, sweating over a keyboard.

That's what I like see.

First, we look at images from the flights over the shark cut-out at three-foot depth.

Found anything?

This is the raw imagery of the shark.

You don't really see it.

- Well, nothing.

- Exactly.

It's hard to see.

And then if you look at the filtered detect, you'll see it.

(MARK) Oh, wow!

- You'll see it clear as day.

- Straightaway.

- Wham-o!

If you zoom in, look at that.

The fins... are really obvious.

Frankly, it's as if you've painted it white.

Yep.

So have you got the images from the... shark that's three meters down?

- They're right here.

- Is that the boat?

I can't see the shark at all on there.

But then we couldn't when we were flying over.

I never saw that shark three meters down, either in the helicopter or in the plane.

Okay, so what about the multi-spectral picture there?

(DANIEL) This is the filtered multi-spectral.

(MARK) Look at that.

- That's it.

- It's glowing!

Can't miss that one.

It's right there.

'The camera detects sharks much better than we could by eye.

But to be a truly effective early-warning system, the image must be processed immediately in real time.

Daniel thinks he's solved the problem.

He's programmed the system to provide an automatic alert when it spots a shark.

So now we want to test it in the air.'

(EDDIE) Alright, guys, here we go.

This is the big test, Eddie.

It all hangs now on what happens in this flight.

If it works, it could really offer something new.

If it fails... ..all this effort's been down the plughole.

Not gonna fail.

God, look at that cloud down there.

Eddie, is that gonna be a bit of an issue?

(EDDIE) Yeah.

- What height do you think that cloud is?

- It's right on the deck.

(DANIEL)I'm seeing a lot of cloud.

(EDDIE) A lot of cloud.

I can try turning it on and see what we get.

I mean, it's breaking up, but...

So we have to have a call here to decide - is it better to just land and wait for this to clear.

- I think so.

So that is trial one aborted.

But we are not going to let a little bit of low-lying cloud beat us.

We will be back.

'The problem highlights an obvious drawback of aerial surveillance cloud cover.

But our aim is to find a more efficient solution than the current system of spotting by eye from a helicopter.

It's a three-hour wait before the low-level cloud clears and we can get back in the air for another attempt.'

Fog's clearing.

Round two.

(EDDIE) Are we ready to go Daniel?

- Yes.

- Ready to rock?

Yes.

Fingers crossed.

'There's still some patchy cloud but we're gonna try anyway.'

What do you think, Eddie, from here?

Today is one of the most challenging days we've seen.

We've got a high overcast layer and then all of this haze down below with a lot of chop and wind on the sea.

But ultimately, we've got to make this work in these kind of conditions, haven't we?

Right, Mark, if it can work in conditions like this it'll absolutely be able to work on a nice sunny day when we have the most amount of people on the beach in Perth.

'The system has been set to automatically detect the specific color and size range of a Great White.

If it can recognize a shark, in the future, pictures could theoretically be beamed back live to the ground from an unmanned drone.'

So here we go, we're lining up for it.

We don't know where it is - Eddie knows where it is, Daniel and I don't, we're relying just on the camera and on the software.

(DANIEL) There it is.

- Got it!

Bull's-eye!

We have it.

We have it, clear as day, in the multi-spectral image with the filtering on.

You can see clearly the cut-out and the fins on the cut-out on the multi-spectral image.

That is brilliant, isn't it?

Yes.

Yes.

Pleased?

Good work!

Good work, Daniel.

Eddie, that is brilliant.

My God, I was getting so nervous about it after so much effort.

'The software automatically picks out the shark test dummy during seven other passes.'

That's a really exciting test from my point of view.

What we've done is to prove the concept that multi-spectral imaging with this kind of software, that can automatically detect a Great White Shark signature in the water could play a really important role in helping to prevent shark attacks in Western Australia and elsewhere, of course.

'Eddie and Daniel think that their system could increase the accuracy of shark sightings from the air, from 20 per cent to 80 per cent.

The next step would be to begin trials in Perth.

There's clearly a pressing demand for new ideas.

6,000 people stormed the beaches to protest against the shark cull.'

It's their water, stop the slaughter!

It's their water, stop the slaughter!

During the first three months of deploying drum line hooks, more than 50 Tiger Sharks over ten feet long have been killed.

But they've not caught a single Great White - the species responsible for all the recent fatal attacks.

We sent the results of our tests to the Fisheries Minister and he's told us he wants to find out more about the technology.

We've proved an automated aerial spotting system has real potential.

Linked to the public alerts already provided, it would allow people to make better-informed decisions about where and when to enter the sea.

And for me, that's the key to addressing this conflict.

Killing sharks is not the solution.

The system we've trialed could save lives theirs and ours.'

Next time on Operation Maneater: I'm in Northern Canada tackling rogue polar bears.

It was like a scene out of a horror movie.

Everyone was screaming, everyone was shooting guns.

I'll work with those on the front line... You can see him start to move his head.

It's time for us to get out of here.

...in a bid to protect ...both polar bears... ...and people.

You cannot imagine how terrifying that would be.