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In a chance discovery while a boat team was shooting a fishing DVD, possibly the largest concentration of juvenile Great White Sharks has been discovered just metres off the shore of Australia's Mid-North Coast.
The team spotted twenty-seven Great White Sharks in only one day during the filming of their fishing DVD last week near Port Stephens [map].Over the course of three days, Al McGlashan and his Strikezone video crew saw an average of 16 Great Whites per day, all between 2m and 3m long. With Great White sharks being born at around 1.5m long, it is safe to say that while being apex predators, the sharks discovered off Port Stephens are infant, and fortunately for swimmers, fish-eaters. Mr McGlashan said he used fish on a length of line to lure the first shark they saw into coming closer to the boat, he and his crew "watched in awe" as it exploded from the water chasing the bait. "The encouter proved to be not a one-off but a concentration of juveniles that could well be the highest concentrations of these apex predators in the world," he said. "They showed no fear of the boat, isntead they seemed very inquisitive". The Department of Primary Industries shark research division has begun an investigation as to why the sharks, commonly believed to be quite solitary in nature have congregated at one spot. Mr McGlashan, who keeps in regular contact with fisheries scientistsand CSIRO Great White experts commented, "I've never heard of anywhere near this many in one area. The bizarre thing is there is no food there are the moment - we saw few or no salmon which they love eating" CSIRO research has found an adult Great White migration from South Australia up to the east coast to Queensland.
Young Great Whites Feeding |
