Cape Lookout, N.C. – A shark feeding frenzy was captured on video right at the beach at Cape Lookout National Seashore.
The video was posted on Facebook and YouTube by Brian Recker, who wrote that his friend Donnie Griggs shot it.
Recker’s YouTube video states the sharks came out around noon on Thursday, Oct. 8.
Leaders from One Harbor Church who were on a retreat witnessed the shark feeding frenzy while fishing for the evening’s dinner.
Recker says you can see more than 100 sharks in the video, attacking a school of bluefish.
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“As seagulls and pelicans joined in on the meal, the men began to cast into the surf, catching fish without the use of bait,” Recker wrote. “For more than five minutes, the sharks were observed swimming in and out of the surf, some of which became beached in the fury.”
Recker added a disclaimer that Donnie Griggs, the cameraman who captured the footage, is an avid waterman who spearfishes, dives, swims and surfs at Cape Lookout often.
“We want it to be clear that Cape Lookout and the surrounding beaches of Eastern North Carolina are extremely safe for swimming,” Recker wrote. “The presence of these sharks and large schools of fish is actually a sign of a very healthy ecosystem.”
Rachel Metz is the Director of Live Exhibits at the Virginia Aquarium. She says the sharks, known as brown or sandbar sharks, can be found swimming off the coast year-round.
“I think actually what we`re seeing is, those guys were are the right place at the right time. They happened to follow a school of bluefish. They were coming up near shore, and the sharks took advantage, just like the fishermen were doing, and there was a feeding frenzy,” she says.
Metz says the bluefish the sharks were feeding on were likely migrating from the north.
“A lot of species will follow their comfort zone or the temperature of the water they`re most comfortable with. So in this case, the bluefish tend to like a little bit colder waters, so they will follow the cold waters down south a little bit this time of year and into the winter,” she says.
Metz says that while something like this is rare, it can happen along our coasts and there’s nothing to be afraid of. The sharks are just doing what they do naturally — eating.
