Video has emerged of a fisherman fighting off a great white shark with a broom.
Australian fisherman Daniel Hoey was out with a private charter fishing for smooth hound sharks off Port Fairy Australia, when encountered the approximate 18 foot (5.5m) great white.
Hoey, who owns Salty Dog Salty Dog Fishing Charter, was 8 miles off shore halfway between Port Fairy and Warrnambool when the shark first showed up.
“It took the cage with burley from under the boat and swam away with it and disappeared. We thought that was the end of that so we kept fishing, but then it came back for more and was just hanging around,” he told The Standard
While the bait may have drawn the shark to the area, the motor kept the shark’s interest.
“It just kept trying to bite it. They all do it. It came and bit the motor and kept coming back.
“It must have swum past us thirty times, just looking at the motor and looking at us, “he said.
Sharks have electroreceptors on their snouts, a sixth sense which helps them locate prey. The electroreceptors, or ampullae of Lorenzini sensing organs, are extremely sensitive and often draw sharks to the electrical impulses of boat motors.
The great white appeared to be perplexed by the boat’s motor and stayed around Hoey and crew for quite some time.
“The whole thing went on for about an hour, I suppose, 15 minutes of circling, then it disappeared for about 20 minutes and then came back for about half an hour,” he said, explaining what prompted him to use the broom.
After spending so much time fighting off the great white with a broom, they realized the fishing trip was a bust and drew up anchor.
Last year a rare sighting of a great white occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. In that case, the shark also test bit the motor several times.
