ACDC music attracts Great White sharks more than any other bait.
Eyre Peninsula tourism operator Matt Waller has discovered that great whites are attracted to the low-frequency songs from the Australian hard rock.
Several times a week Waller’s Adventure Bay Charter company cruises down to Shark Bay at the Neptune Islands, south of Port Lincoln, to view the world’s largest predatory fish.
The sharks are particularly attracted to top-selling songs If You Want Blood and Shook Me All Night Long.
Waller discovered the unusual attraction for sharks when taking tourists out on his swim with great white sharks trips.
“We know the AC/DC music works best by trial and error, and we are doing more research to see what works best with different species of shark,” he says.
It all started when Mr Waller did some research on the internet to see what companies use to help repel sharks.
“I asked a couple of them how to attract sharks and they said they hear best at frequencies from 20 to 1000 hertz,” Mr Waller says.
“Quite often we see the sharks on the surface, but most of the time our guests want to get in the cage and see them up close.
“I’ve seen the sharks rub their faces on the cage where the sound is coming from as if to feel it.”
Waller believes the attraction of sharks to AC/DC has much to do with the low frequency range of their music, which is compatible with the very sensitive hearing of sharks.
“The sharks come to Neptune Island, which has the largest population of fur seals in the world, to stock-up on a high energy diet of the fur seals,” he says.
The attraction of great white sharks to AC/DC music echoes the practice of Pacific Islanders in attracting sharks by rattling coconut shells together under the water.