A passenger captured the moment a fierce Mako shark fell onto the bow of their boat while trying to escape the fishing line.
The Mako shark escapes after the incident. (Video: Sun)
On November 5, the Churchys Charter NZ fishing boat, operated by Ryan Churches, carried five passengers off the coast of Whitianga, New Zealand. However, after being hooked, a Mako shark leaped out of the water and landed on the boat’s deck. “I told the passengers if the shark jumps onto the boat, to stay away. About 30 seconds after being hooked, the Mako shark jumped onto the bow. We were all watching the line on the side of the boat when the shark suddenly changed direction and leaped up, which startled us,” Churches recounted.
The shark was estimated to be about 2.4 to 2.7 meters long and weighed 150 kg. It struggled around the bow of the boat for two minutes. According to Churches, the passengers reacted quickly and grabbed their cameras to record the event. He noted they were fortunate that the incident occurred at the front of the boat, where they had a windshield and a hard top to separate themselves from the animal. They pushed the shark over the railing to slide it back into the water. The Mako shark successfully escaped from the boat and swam away.
The Mako shark leaps out of the water and lands on the boat’s deck.
The damage caused by such behavior in sharks depends on their size, the height of the jump, weight, and the area of impact, according to Marc Aquino Baleytó, a marine biologist at the Interdisciplinary Marine Science Center in La Paz, Mexico. “Mako sharks are very strong creatures. The only way they can be seriously injured is through a strong impact to the head. In fact, this is how fishermen often subdue them to avoid accidents during encounters,” Baleytó stated.
There are two types of Mako sharks: shortfin and longfin. Both species inhabit temperate waters worldwide. They can grow up to 4 meters long and are listed as endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. These sharks often leap high out of the water when hooked in an attempt to escape. Mako sharks try to break the line through tension, for example, by biting or swimming into deeper water and leaping suddenly.
Although rare, a case of a Mako shark jumping onto a boat was recorded last month in the state of Maine, USA.
