'Amazing to see': Fisherman films huge sharks savaging whale
Warana fisherman and Brisbane firefighter Ashley Symonds says he's never seen anything like the feeding frenzy he spotted a few kilometres off Coast beaches.
Sunshine Coast
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WARANA fisherman and Brisbane firefighter Ashley Symonds says he's not seen anything like the feeding frenzy he came across just a few kilometres from Sunshine Coast beaches.
The 45-year-old was in his 5m, centre-console fishing boat about midday on Tuesday when he spotted what he initially thought to be the hull of a fibreglass boat.
When he got closer he realised he was looking at the 10m-long carcass of a humpback whale, which was being savaged by swarms of sharks.
The carcass was floating about 5km north-east of Point Cartwright.
Mr Symonds had been taking his boat out for a run and hadn't caught anything when he sidled up to amazing scenes.
He said about nine large tiger sharks and a great white shark were tearing into the whale carcass.
Mr Symonds, a Queensland Fire and Emergency Services station officer in Brisbane, tipped most of the sharks to be about 3-4m long.
"I thought it was a boat from a distance," he said.
"I wasn't scared, it was just amazing to see."
He said a number of the sharks were swimming over the whale's tail, while one large tiger shark was videoed swimming straight at his boat.
Mr Symonds said a number of sharks were swimming under his boat and bumping into it at times, but none of them tried to bite his vessel.
He was glad the seas were nice and calm at the time.
"I've never seen that," he said.
"It was cool.
"They weren't afraid of me at all."
Originally published as 'Amazing to see': Fisherman films huge sharks savaging whale