It's 5:00 AM off the coast of Manteo, and we're on fisherman, Charlie Lock's boat with researcher, Sara Mirabilio.

We're about to do some science.

Flashing pattern lets me know that this is the test one versus the controls only blink once before the light goes on.

Sara is testing out a device that could protect sharks and keep fishermen happy, but to do that, we need to find sharks, which shouldn't be too hard because North Carolina's sounds, estuaries, and coasts are prime shark habitat.

Cool and warm waters meet along the Outer Banks, and many shark species migrate through or return yearly to have their pups.

We got blacktip sharks, we got sandbar sharks, and we got sand tiger sharks.

We even have great white sharks.

Although shark species have declined worldwide because of overfishing, regulation in the '80s and '90s has led to a population uptick in some species.

I get calls a lot about shark attacks and swimming, and is it safe to swim?

More vacationers know that trend's going up.

Sharks recovering, and that goes up, so it's just probability.

Now you have more sharks out in the wild, which is a good thing.

It means our conservation measures are doing what they're supposed to do, but also means that now you have more interactions with fishing gear, and nobody wants a shark on a hook.

It often means that they either took your bait away off that hook, so now you're not going to catch something that you wanted to catch, or they're eating your prize catch that was on that hook.

Along the beach, we use a really light net in the spring for Spanish mackerel.

We get sharks in our gear.

Even though they're alive, and we're not targeting them, they're trying to eat the fish out of our net, and they wind up tearing up your net, basically.

It's a $1,500 net.

Sometimes brand new you put in the water.

I've had nets destroyed the first time I ever put in the water.

On top of that, getting stuck in a net or a hook can injure and kill sharks unintentionally.

Bycatch is actually the number one threat to sharks globally.

It's a lose-lose for everybody.

It's a lose-lose for the fisherman who wants the prize catch, and it's a lose-lose in that we could kill sharks unintentionally that we don't want to kill.

That's where the device comes in.

You attach it to a fishing hook and it emits an electric pulse.

That's important because sharks can sense electric fields.

It's how they hunt, and avoid predators at close range.

The theory is, if this device pulses electricity in random patterns, it creates a small protective bubble around the hook that could make sharks keep their distance.

Here's how it looks in a lab setting.

The sharks steer clear.

We're trying to use biology.

The difference is in biology to deter them from a baited hook, I equate it to a dog fence, an underground invisible fence for a dog.

Now it's time to test it in the ocean.

Charlie runs a long line with each hook bearing a single device.

Half the devices are turned on, and half are turned off.

Bonus, the devices emit a light which helps attract the fish that fishermen are targeting.

We try to have a twofer, basically.

Again, to say, "Hey, we're not asking you to put something else on your line.

We realize you already put so much conservation gear on your boat.

This would be to fill a need you already have."

As we reel in the hooks, Sara is collecting data on how many sharks end up on hooks with the device turned off.

That way, she'll have an idea of how well the devices worked.

All the sharks we caught today ended up on hooks without the electrical pulse.

Charlie sells them to a local fishmonger at the end of the day so they don't go to waste.

Over the course of the study, hooks with a device turned on deterred sharks by more than 50%.

The results have been surprisingly positive.

Sara is publishing her results and the next step is figuring out how to scale up production to make a viable product.

Yes, they're very much a beta version.

For fishermen, a device like this could be a game-changer.

It would allow them access to places they aren't allowed to fish without accidentally killing sharks we're trying to protect.

It's a tool in the toolbox of keeping fishermen fishing for species they can retain, but not harvest the sharks that they don't want us to catch.