Great White Shark Stalks Fish In Australian Lake
A fisherman captured footage of a great white shark swimming close to shore in a lake north of Sydney as the predator stalked bait fish in the shallows, circling a popular wharf.
According to the Daily Mail, Clinton Bambach was fishing on Thursday morning at Murrays Beach, Lake Macquarie, when he spotted the great white. A juvenile, the shark measured just 2.5 meters in length. Bambach observed that the shark circled the jetty, hunting in shallow water for an hour.
“It was doing loops and chasing baits,” he said.
“A bloke saw how excited I was getting as I filmed so he came over and slapped the water and the thing wheeled around…You could have stepped on it, it came in so close, in just two foot of water.”
According to the Newcastle Herald, the wharf is a favorite area for beachgoers, known also for bait fish and their predators. A deep section of the lake extends between the jetty, Pulbah Island and Wangi Point.
Jason Nunn, owner of Fisherman’s Warehouse, noted that the shark was actively hunting, its dorsal and tail fins rising from the water. Though disinterested in humans, the great white nevertheless reacted when one of the fishermen began to splash the water.
“It’s a great white!” Australian man’s surprise as shark spotted in local lake http://t.co/8lygC8Pwyy pic.twitter.com/m5H6FNPO3o — Sky News (@SkyNews) December 5, 2014
“In my eyes, the shark has heard the splashing and come back to have a look at what was all the commotion, like a bait fish splashing the surface,” Bambach said.
“But when he saw the human hand, it wasn’t a food source so he didn’t aggressively tail kick and attack that food source.
“Sharks are hungry and they will eat, but they won’t just eat a human hand because he sees it splashing.”
Recently, another juvenile white shark was caught from shore off the Outer Banks on the east coast of the United States, the first time one of the predators has been hooked and landed from a beach in the region. Though the great white was ultimately released as the Inquisitr recently reported, conservationists and shark advocates were angered at the length of time the white shark spent out of the water while the stunned fishermen photographed themselves with it.
Locals noted that the great white has been spotted regularly in the lake over the last few months as anglers have repeatedly observed it hunting. Bambach said that he was at first unsure about sharing his video, fearing that a section of the public may attempt to catch the great white or call for the shark’s removal.
[Image: Clinton Bambach via the Sydney Morning Herald]
