All indications are pointing towards a sharky summer in Southern California.
There’s a marine heatwave, also ominously known as “The Blob” percolating off the Pacific Coast; there’s the imminent, and potential, “Super” El Niño brewing; and all of those factors are contributing to ideal conditions for juvenile white sharks in SoCal.
Like a nursery, the waters off Southern California act like a nursery for juvenile great whites. They like the warmer waters, and there’s plenty of food for them. But below, one great white had a bite of something other than its typical prey – a camera.
Shark documenter, educator, and activist Carlos Gauna (aka the Malibu Artist) said:
“I don’t want to use the word ‘aggressive’ but they were very animated today. One thing we did notice is that there’s a lot of bait out here today. You could see the fish. Bait balls. Sea lions. Rays. A lot of food here. So, there was a lot of prey and availability. I think that’s amped up the sharks.”
It looks like a wild day off the coast somewhere in SoCal. Sea lions are attacking sting rays, fish are swimming around everywhere, and then there’s the shark encounter.
With a camera dangling beneath his kayak, Gauna films something he’s never seen before – a shark taking a bite, swallowing for a moment, his camera. Viewers get an inside looks at the pinkish flesh of the beast, before it decides to let go.
Related: Great White Shark Relentlessly Hunts Foil Surfer for 10 Minutes in California (Video)
Mistaken identity? Curiosity? Probably a little bit of both.
“If you’re a swimmer or a surfer, and you notice plentiful fish out there,” Gauna explained. “If there’s bait, fish, bat rays – that probably enhances the chances that you’d have a negative encounter with a shark, because there’s so much activity out there. As you saw, that shark that went after our camera, we’ve never had that happen. But when all those factors are in play, the chances of having a negative encounter increase. That’s why it’s important to know when to go in.”
As for this summer, and the coming months with all the environmental factors coming together, Gauna continued:
“This year is turning out to be one of the hottest years for finding great white sharks on our coast. With everything we saw today, I’m confident I’ll be filming some pretty epic stuff – including some things you’ll have to see to believe.”
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