Victorian surfboard fin to protect sharks

Surfers can attach a new fin to their board that would tell authorities not to cull a shark if it kills them.

A Victorian company has started the Fin For A Fin campaign and is seeking crowdfunding to make surfboard fins, which have the words: "If my life is taken, don't take theirs".

The campaign is being supported by surfer Mike Coots, who lost his leg to a shark in Hawaii in the 1997 when he was 18.

"A lot of people would have wanted it dead, but I never did," Mr Coots says in the indiegogo video.

"We go into their home and when there's an attack, we take revenge. If we kill sharks, we kill the ocean."

Designed by Torquay company Glide Fins, money raised from the campaign will go towards developing a new shark warning app called Dorsal that enables beachgoers and authorities to alert others to shark sightings.

Surfers who purchase the fins will have their intentions registered on a global database.

"So in the event of a tragedy, your fins will signal to authorities to search your name before any further decisions are made," Glide Fins says.