Footage of a large shiver of sharks feasting on a bait ball at Byron\u2019s Tallow Beach while snorkelers swam nearby was shared widely on social media. In the video, the sharks could be seen herding the school of baitfish close to the rocky shore in a feeding frenzy.<\/p>\n
Jakob de Zwart, one Byron Bay photographer who filmed the spectacle, stumbled upon people looking and pointing at Tallow Beach while on a walk at the Byron lighthouse. Luckily, his drone was in his nearby car.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the drone went up and I got a top-down look, it was just like \u2018ok, this thing is next level big\u2019. I was going higher and higher and higher just to figure out where this thing ended \u2026 and then I was looking at this thing going there\u2019s without a doubt 100 sharks in here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The sharks] were so close. We\u2019re talking knee-high water\u2026 and they were coming right in and flapping around the bait ball,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nA huge school of baitfish and sharks near Byron Bay<\/span> Photograph: Jakob de Zwart<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAdam Smith, professor at James Cook University and head of marine environmental organisation Reef Ecologic, said Australians were \u201cvery lucky\u201d to have this natural phenomena in their backyards.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s very few other places in the world where, close to a small town or even a major city, you can see these amazing wild creatures so close and in numbers,\u201d Smith told Guardian Australia.<\/p>\n
Daryl McPhee, associate professor of environmental science at Bond University, said the event was \u201ccertainly spectacular viewing for those present\u201d.<\/p>\n
McPhee, who has seen this type of feeding up and down the coast over the past 40 years, called it \u201ccertainly not something that people are going to see every day.\u201d<\/p>\nSharks follow baitfish <\/span> Photograph: Saxon Kent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAlthough swimmers and snorkelers were filmed in the water near the sharks, both experts warned the water is not a safe place for humans when this natural phenomenon occurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic that people can see nature in all its rawness so close on our beaches and headlands, but then this also comes with challenges in terms of understanding what you\u2019re seeing [and] respecting what you\u2019re seeing,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people are probably pushing the envelope a bit too far and trying to swim and or snorkel with these sharks, and there are inherent risks with that in terms of people either being bitten \u2026 or potentially losing their life.\u201d<\/p>\n
McPhee echoed the warning: \u201cWhile most of the sharks there are small, they can still inflict a bite, and they\u2019re certainly in feeding mode \u2026 people need to not be in the water and they certainly need to not be snorkelling, trying to get some up-close footage.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bait fish started to disappear yesterday, with the sharks following suit. De Zwart visited Tallow Beach yesterday and found it was \u201cback to normal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Hundreds #sharks #filmed #bait #fish #feeding #frenzy #Byron #Bay #Australia #news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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