Three fishermen were panicked when a great white shark tried to ‘flip their boat’ in Hallett Cove
Three South Aussie blokes were having a peaceful Friday morning fishing in their tinnie — until a huge great white shark tried to tip their boat in Adelaide’s south.
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A monster great white shark estimated to be 5m in length tried to flip a tinnie at Hallett Cove, in a terrifying encounter for a group of fishermen yesterday.
Kidman Park man Aaron Borg was among three men and two boys who were fishing from three tinnies at 5am, when the enormous shark approached them.
Mr Borg and his son Jonathon, 13, were in one tinny, his brother Rodney Borg and nephew Lukas, 6, were in the second and his friend Daniel Dalese was in the third 4m aluminium tinnie that was targeted by the shark.
Mr Borg said they panicked when the shark began swimming towards Daniel’s boat, about 400m from shore.
“As he turned on the engine, the shark lifted the boat out of the water … and put a slight dent in it,” Mr Borg said.
“We were only 60m away, and we heard a lot of banging and splashing. It was a bit hairy.”
The men immediately fled to shore to warn others of the danger.
“We were all quite close (to the shark), I’ve not been that scared for a while,” Mr Borg told The Advertiser.
“The shark was definitely angry. He definitely tried to knock my mate out of the boat.”
The trio usually take out larger boats, and Mr Borg said they wouldn’t be taking the tinnies out for a while.
Mr Borg said the encounter should serve as a warning to beachgoers and fishermen that they need to remain vigilant to the threat of sharks.
Anton Covino, from Shark Watch SA, said shark sightings increase at this time of the year due to their migration patterns.
“Some sharks migrate to the north of the Gulf of St Vincent which is why we see an increase in sightings,” he said.
Shark Watch gathers as much information as possible to warn swimmers of the whereabouts of sharks at busy times of the year. “It’s just a heads up service if anything … to inform beachgoers so they can be extra vigilant,” Mr Covino said.
Primary Industries and Regions South Australia has reported 86 shark sightings in South Australia so far this year compared to 104 reports at the same time last year.