Australian diver Brett Vercoe captured this incredible footage of a shark feeding frenzy after the carcass of a huge sperm whale washed off the continental shelf and drifted into shallower waters off the coast of Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. The footage shows the first shark – a 4.5 meter long white pointer shark – scenting blood and closing in to scavenge on the rotting whale. It is soon joined by two other Pointers and two 4.2 meter long tiger sharks.
“It was incredible to find that happening just five or ten kilometers from Coffs Harbour,” Vercoe later told reporters. “Unbelievable. It was a really exciting time. It’s probably the closest that I’ve been to sharks that are actually feeding like that.”
Sharks are not an uncommon sight around the coast of Australia. The area is home to several species of the fish, from the gentle whale shark to the deadly great white – the shark we all know and love from the Jaws franchise. Almost all species of sharks that hang around Australian waters are categorized as endangered, protected under Australian law from over-fishing. As this video shows, they may be endangered, but they certainly have plenty to eat.
