Swim on sharks, nothing to see here: could fake kelp prevent attacks?

As the brutality of drumlines and culling is exposed, ingenious new ideas are being trialled to protect humans from sharks - and vice versa

In 2017, surf champion Kelly Slater responded on Instagram to the death of Alexandre Naussac, a bodyboarder who died after a shark attack: Honestly, I won't be popular for saying this but there needs to be a serious cull," Slater wrote. There is a clear imbalance happening in the ocean there ... 20 attacks since 2011!?"

Reunion Island, the French overseas department in the Indian Ocean where Naussac died, did indeed see 24 shark attacks between 2010 and 2019, 10 of which were fatal. If anywhere is a shark attack hotspot, it's here: one-sixth of recorded fatal attacks globally from 2011-20016 happened in the island's murky water, which appeals to bull sharks but makes it harder to spot them. Overfishing has been cited as another possible reason for the high incidence of attacks, as sharks move nearer land to find food.