Shark Breaches and Lands in Boat

A 3-meter great white shark breaches and lands into Oceans Research Team's boat.  They might be shark lovers but this encountered was a little too closer for comfort.

On July 18, 2011 in Mossel Bay, South Africa the Oceans Research team got the surprise of a lifetime when a 3 meter great white shark breached into their research vessel.

Field Specialist Dorien Schroder of Mossel Bay and six crew members had been chumming, an act of throwing food into the water to attract fish, since 0730 the morning of July 18 off Seal Island; Oceans Research has been conducting research for a population dynamics study in this area since 2008. Around 0830, after about 1 hour of chumming, there had been a fair amount of activity around the boat, taking data on at least four sharks, including an old friend known to the team as Pasella, which has been frequently spotted over the last three years.

However, the events of a casual day of collecting data was all about to change.  Activity around the boat suddenly ceased and all was quiet for about five minutes.  Schroder goes on to describe the following incident; Next thing I know I hear a splash and see a great white shark breach out of the water from the side of the boat hovering, literally, over the crew member who was chumming on the boat's portside.  Schroder automatically sprang into action and pulled the crew member quickly away towards the stern of the boat's platform into safety.  With all the crew members rushing to safety the 3m, 500kg shark landed in the boat on top of the fuel and bait storage containers.  The shark landed only halfway in the boat and the team hoped that as the shark thrashed around that it would make its way back into the ocean.  However, this was not the case and the shark proceeded to get itself stuck in between the 1.5 by 2 meter area behind the container and boat's stern.  The shark, in a panic, began thrashing around, destroying equipment and even cut the fuel line.

Schroder was able to calm her crew and direct them to walk along the railing towards the bow of the boat to a safety.  Schroder immediately radioed the directors of Oceans, Enrico Gennari and Ryan Johnson to inform them of the incident and to request help.  Gennari and Johnson assembled a team as they raced to assist Schroder and her crew.  During the next 15 minutes while Schroder was awaiting the arrival of help, she kept the shark alive by pouring water over its gills.   On arrival Gennari and team immediately pulled their boat Lamnidae alongside the vessel Cheetah and climbed aboard.  Once aboard they made sure that no one was injured and all crew members were safe.  With the area secured they did their best to formulate a plan to get this great white back into the water as quickly and safely as possible.  Johnson and Gennari secured one end of a rope around the tail of the shark and tied the other end to the vessel Lamindae and attempted to use the side of the boat as leverage to tow the shark out of the boat back into the water, this attempt was unsuccessful.  They then tried this method again, but this time through the opening between the motors, but this too was another failure.  Port authority was then contacted requesting a crane that could lift the shark off the boat and safely release it.  Since the shark had severed the fuel lines of vessel Cheetah it had to be towed back to the harbor with the shark still onboard.  That shark had the ride of its life I am just sure of it.

Once back in the harbor, Cheetah moored next to a fishing boat and they assisted by giving the crew a water hose which was placed inside the mouth of the shark so that water could further ventilate the gills.  The Smit Lombok then moored alongside Cheetah and they connected one of their large lifting hooks to the rope which was secured to the shark's tail and began to life the shark off of the boat and back into the water.  The shark instantly began thrashing as soon as it hit the water and Johnson and Gennari quickly cut the ropes as the shark swam away from the stern.  The shark was then seen swimming towards the harbor mouth.

The Oceans team had hoped that the shark would be able to orient itself out of the harbor, however, about 30 minutes after its release the shark beached itself onto a small beach inside the harbor.  Gennari and Johnson returned to give aid to the shark in its orientation by physically trying to walk it, but the shark was unable to orient itself within the harbor and again proceeded towards the beach.  The team of scientists then decided that they would have to safely lead the shark back out into open waters.  The team fasten the shark to Lamnidae using two ropes attached to both the tail and behind the pectoral fins with the shark's head tilted upwards in order to ventilate the gills properly and slowly started making their way our of the harbor.  Around one kilometer from the harbor the shark began to regain its orientation and strength and was cut lose, where it swam away with powerfully strides.

Thanks to the quick thinking of these scientists no one was injured and the shark survived to swim another day.


Photos and story courtesy of Oceans Research.