A great white shark was spotted circling a fisherman’s boat near Cape Cod, Massachusetts before launching an attempt to chomp off a section of the boat. Footage shared on Instagram shows the shark swimming around the carcass of a whale before heading for the boat. Fishermen can be heard saying, “he’s coming right up to the boat,” as the great white comes closer to try biting into the boat before aborting the attempt and circling back.
Fisherman Matt Taylor, who told CBS Boston he was lobstering in Cape Cod Bay with friends when he filmed the video, captioned the video: “The most epic things I’ve ever witnessed on the water.
“Great white sharks up to 20 ft in length feeding on a dead whale in Cape Cod Bay.”
Cape Cod is not new to shark sightings and last year the area spiralled into a panic after a swimmer died after being bitten while swimming at Newcomb Hollow Beach.
Arthur Medici, 26, is believed to have been the first victim of a shark attack off the Massachusetts coast in over 80 years.
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The shark population odd the US East Coast town has increased over the past few years, with scientists suggesting the growing number of potential prey was the main cause of the shark boom.
The growing risk of attacks spurred towns in the bay to adopt new technologies to alert lifeguard when a tagged shark comes close to the beach.
Massachusetts shark researcher Greg Skomal began tagging sharks near Cape Cod in 2015 but warned the number of animals he has logged into his records is a small portion of the actual number of sharks in local waters.
Speaking to NPR, Mr Skomal said: “We know at least 300 individuals are visiting Cape Cod, but we’ll definitely be able to tell you that’s not the actual estimate — it’s going to be much more than that.
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He added: ” I’m absolutely concerned and want to be as prepared as we possibly can.
“It’s a wild marine environment, and the sharks have been away and not present in the numbers they are in many, many years, and the seals were hunted to near extinction.”
Several solutions have been proposed to keep sharks away from the shore, including a $100,000 (£82,116) underwater fence.
Mr Carlstrom said technological protections are “intriguing”, adding that “it would be amazing to be able to do something that’s reliable and cost-effective and completely thought out at some point in the future.”
He however admitted fences or additional detection buoys may not work within Cape Cod’s roughest waters.