Jaws 4, anyone? On Tuesday, Apr. 3, a great white shark began to stalk a recreational fishing boat in Tapley Shoal, a renowned shark habitat less than ten miles from Edithburgh, South Australia.
“Look at the size of this thing that’s come up behind us!” said one of the men on the boat, as Melbourne-based fisherman Mark Oaks reported to ABC Radio Adelaide Breakfast.
The 15-foot long shark continued to circle the recreational boat, which was only a few feet bigger. The men remained still and afraid, unsure of how to safefully leave the shark behind.
“We kind of had thoughts of changing our Bonds [underwear] a couple of times,” Oates said to ABC. “So we powered up and cruised out of there but it just kept following us for 10 minutes.”
Soon, two police approached in an inflatable dinghy. However, they weren’t necessarily there to help; instead, they were simply doing routine operations, “checking registration, licenses and safety equipment along with alcohol and drug testing” according to the SA police on social media.
The shark, later dubbed “Noah” by the light-humored police force, small after the small dinghy before returning to the recreational boat. Worried, Oates told the police to back off as the shark swam closer to their boat. The police remained put: under Australian law, great white sharks and listed as vulnerable and therefore cannot be harmed without permission from the government’s environment minister.
“For probably the next 10 or 15 minutes we just sat around,” Oates said. “There was very little fish caught that day, I can tell you.”
After the recreational boat’s companion refused to leave, the police gave up on their attempts come close to the boat and breath-test its passengers. As for Noah, he was fortunately left “off the hook” as well.