Yale Cordage, a New England-based custom and specialty braided rope manufacturer that designs application-specific ropes across many industries, has developed a unique strategy for testing its latest marine application rope. Designed to tether buoys integral for a worldwide tsunami warning system, Yale is accustomed to designing quality products for a rugged environment. But this time, the company included a unique strategy for testing bite resistance – recruiting sharks in captivity to test product prototypes for the first time.
According to Portland Press Herald, “the rope will be made for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Data Buoy Center, which operates a network of about 40 buoys that measure the height of waves and other conditions off the coast of tsunami-prone population centers across the globe, including the U.S. West Coast, Japan and the Philippines. It must be resistant to deep-sea conditions, including the bites of ocean predators, so Yale commissioned the Oklahoma Aquarium, home to the largest collection of bull sharks in captivity, to test its prototypes. Yale President Bill Putnam said bull sharks were ideal product testers because they will bite down on just about anything.”
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