Scientists at CSU-Long beach develop tech to keep people safe from sharks

LONG BEACH, Calif. (NBC, KYMA) - As Southern California prepares to host the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, scientists at California State University-Long Beach (CSULB) are developing technology that aims to keep athletes and beachgoers safe from sharks.

"It's designed to go out, and patrol off a beach to surveil for sharks," said Chris Lowe, Shark Lab Director at CSULB.

Just about ten-feet long and a little wider than a surfboard, researchers hope this autonomous vehicle could become one of the newest members of Southern California's lifeguard team that can do more than swim.

"It will have a drone on it that will fly around find sharks," Lowe shared.

Developed by CSULB's Shark Lab, Lowe said the robotic craft is designed to patrol the water on its own, powered by solar, scanning for tagged sharks below the surface while transmitting real-time information back to lifeguards on the beach.

"It will be listening for acoustically tagged sharks…it will take water samples to look for white shark DNA," Lowe remarked.

The vessel is just one piece of a growing high-tech network.

The Shark Lab has tagged hundreds of juvenile white sharks, deployed underwater listening stations along the California coast, and use aerial drones to spot sharks from up above.

By 2028, that information could help officials monitor Olympic competition venues in real time, from open-water swimming in Long Beach to surfing events in Orange County.

"We are going to have athletes swimming in Long Beach harbor, where we know there has been white sharks before, so having this device patrolling for lifeguards will help them better protect athletes," Lowe said.

Lowe said it will give lifeguards another tool to make informed decisions without unnecessarily clearing the water.

The challenge now though isn't the technology. It's the funding. Shark Lab said state funding that helped build the monitoring system expires this fall.

Without additional support, researchers shared that some of the technology being developed for the Olympics could be scaled back before the games even begin.

"It won't work if we don't have tagged sharks out there, so we've got to keep tagging sharks...that's part of the CA Beach Safety Program," Lowe expressed. "In order to keep this program running, make this boat work, we got to keep running that program."

Lowe said the goal is to build on the technology to make the water safer for swimmers far beyond the Olympics.