Huge baitball attracting sharks and whales on the NSW Mid North Coast
A huge school of fish swimming from Seal Rocks to Tuncurry is being followed by a wide variety of marine life, and local commercial fishers say they have not seen anything like it in 15 years.
Great whites, bull sharks, whaler sharks, dolphins, Brydes whales and big numbers of sea birds have been stalking the group which is unusually close to shore.
However the reason they have come so far in is still a mystery at this stage. NSW Department of Primary Industries shark biologist Vic Peddemors said he was very excited to see this marine event.
"This has been absolutely inspiring to get this new understanding," Dr Peddemors said. "Just seeing this really big school of baitfish, the sharks, the dolphins, the whales feeding on it — it was just mind-blowing. Really fantastic."
This activity would normally be a lot further offshore, Dr Peddemors said, and scientists will work to understand what environmental factor brought the fish in.
"Maybe there's some extremely warm water in the area and these fish tend to be in cooler water, so maybe they are looking for cooler water," he said. "To have them over such a large stretch of coastline suggests it has to be some kind of environmental event that has brought them so close."
Dr Peddemors compared the event to the famous sardine run in South Africa where billions of sardines migrate up the east coast followed by thousands of predators. It is known as the greatest shoal on Earth.
"In my mind this is the New South Wales equivalent," Dr Peddemors said.
For those on the mid-north coast, surfing is not off the cards but caution is advised with so many predators about. "To advise people to stop swimming is just unrealistic," Dr Peddemors said.
"Just be sensible — if you see a lot of baitfish in the water, or you see a lot of dolphins or birds diving in the water, don't go in. The chances are that there are other predators like sharks in the water."
It is important to scan the water before heading in and try to stay shallow, Dr Peddemors said.
The NSW DPI also has a Shark Smart app which shares information on shark sightings.
//PAIGE COCKBURN
© Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
Comments
That drone footy is incredible.
ditto, how was that bird going in for a feed!
However the reason they have come so far in is still a mystery at this stage. NSW Department of Primary Industries shark biologist Vic Peddemors said he was very excited to see this marine event.
"This has been absolutely inspiring to get this new understanding," Dr Peddemors said. "Just seeing this really big school of baitfish, the sharks, the dolphins, the whales feeding on it — it was just mind-blowing. Really fantastic."
Nothing article.
What new understanding?
Baitballs close to the coast are not unusual. Standard fare.
What is in the baitball, does anyone know?
If I had to guess I'd say some kind of clupeidae....pilchards.
Anyone from the area seen these baitballs?
If he's impressed by that He'd shit his pants if he went to WA.
Saw an article regarding the pilchards inside the Forster / Tuncurry entrance the other day prob the same ball. Spoke to Vic when we had a couple a near misses with big bighties down our way, very accommodating guy.
Hey Freeride,
I'm a photog from Forster. The only thing that is making it unusual is that apparently pilchards prefer the cooler waters and we have had people rocking boardies for the last couple of weeks which I guess doesnt meet the criteria (I'm guessing 20deg water atm?). We've had our fair share of bait balls over the years but usually just salmon...then the whites. The pilchard have been here (Forster) for the last 3 weeks, and this week had made their way into the harbour. Check my photog mate Shane Chalker Facebook page if you get a chance......It makes that video clip of the bait seem miniature and its shot from a drone. I got in the water in the harbour Tuesday to snap some underwater pics of the bait ball and didn't see any noahs but tonnes of rays keeping them at bay (you can see pics of mine at Something Visual FB page). Yesterday there was a bait ball pushed up against the beach side of Tuncurry break wall and 8 bronzes in waist deep water going to town on them.
Vic is full of it, he sensationalises to boost his profile. He was one of the vocal critics against shark mitigation on the North Coast until his claims didn't eventuate.
Nice one Vic, get out of your office and open your eyes bud. This is not rare...
I'm fascinated by the shape formations of the bait balls, much akin to bird 'flocking'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoaling_and_schooling
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flocking_(behavior)
Essentially the same Ben, 3 dimensional clusters of organisms, plus the human brain wired to see patterns.
Looks like a camera from a chopper to me.....
Nothing particularly huge or unusual about it in my books - i thought this was standard?
The first image below shows a much bigger and denser bait ball while the second shows a Brydes whale calling the shots.
This is Point Lookout in the late 90s.
I was up there in 2003 surfing and a similar thing happened . Giant bait balls , hundreds of sharks . We ended up going swimming ( was pretty small that day) and checked out some "big fish" up close. That day changed my perception of sharks , didn't stay in the water too long though. A whale swam through a big bait ball . Then a photo of the whale ended up on the front page of the Courier mail......
A smaller baitball came under the jetty once when I was fishing for gar as a teenager. Midnight, under the lights 4 feet of water and sandy bottom then next second there was just fish, dolphins, seals, small sharks etc it was chaos. Didn't catch a bloody thing either.
When a bait ball is around the only way to catch fish is to use one of the bait ball as bait.
Preferably live.
A lure that mimics the bait if you've got no alternative.
From memory the things I tried were gents (as they were already on my line), a squid jig (because I had the other rod next tome good to go) and swearing.
Swearing was probably the most effective, but it still didn't catch me anything.
Another amazing video. Watch the shark have a real go and plowing through the bait ball..
Not sure what sort of pilchards these ones are, but a few years ago on the north coast also in spring had some massive schools of frog mouth pilchards in close.
That time though was after some cold water upwelling which would have created some food. Hasn't been any cold water this year so far...although probably not far off the way that nor Easter blew yesterday
"Local commercial fishers say they have not seen anything like it for 15 years..",,, I highly doubt that . Done a bit of beach hauling in my time on the east coast, and Ive seen schools that stretch literally for miles on end, many times in the last 15 years. So much bait the fish and sharks go into cruise mode and the birds are so full they can't fly.
Sounds like we can reject the hyperbole and say that it's not so huge and maybe not so amazing.
Had one of those come towards me on the Tweed Coast when I was surfing a nice right by myself. The water went dark as pitch. I hit the beach and watched by could not see any fins or dents in the ball but looking at that footage they were probably following in its tail end. From memory I hit the peak again once it moved away thinking it was all clear ?
drop a plastic under the bait ball or a vibe or anything.
I hooked a huge spaniard off north wall last winter dropping a metal vibe under a bait ball.
after 45 minutes and trying to walk it to the beach i lost it.
We were at tuncurry breakwall Tuesday when the chopper let siren off everyone came in and shark cruised through. The warning system could be improved to allow for the alarm signal to remain once the chopper has gone eg the chopper alarm sets off a flashing beacon on beach, this would warn new beach goers who some time turn up a few minutes later oblivious.
BTW huge bait ball 400m off Shelly beach (cenny coast) Thursday arvo...whales and birds galore.
Bait balls galore along select beaches in Nth NSW this morning. Never seen them that close to shore. Swimmers had no idea how close they were swimming to them!!! :(
You up near the border Don ?
What colour is the water ?
Crystal clear on the Tweed for me this morning. Didn't see any bait balls but can certainly imagine they're around.
Crocs feed on dead Whale off Kimberley coast : ABC online.
Most of the larger schools are blue pilchards , and its certainly common. Ask any of those guys driving around the beach with big blue ice tubs on the back of their trucks. First comes the mullet run, then the groundfish {bream, luderick etc} then comes the baitfish , followed by a spike in juvenile shark numbers around November , and then comes the pelagic season that feed on these migrating baitfish,, and so it goes .. t'was always thus ,
The Marine Parks will now be policed with drones, and heavy fines for illegal fishing. I would imagine it won't be too long before the trawlers come and sweep our beaches as they always did. The experiment worked a little too well. White pointers cruising in gutters close to shore are a real possibility on any beach on the Mid North coast. How on Earth is this meant to be good?
Marine Parks is a bit of scam job,, and they wont let a drone stand in the way of a new 40ft shark cat..
They probably need that to unhook the big ones and tow them out a bit to sea. Those little boats rock around heaps too.
Looks as if they have a good wiff before attacking as in this case where there wasn't any smell attack and ask questions later.
https://www.facebook.com/cl.photos.7/posts/531479530524503
Here is a link to bait ball that came up next to the boat while we were fishing off Cape Otway
Beautiful/scary experience with a bait ball drifting northwards along Broken/Suffolk this morning.
Enjoying some mid morning peaks as the tide was dropping when looking back towards Broken you could see a large cluster of birds nailing a patch of fish. As it drifted closer a whale became visible darting in and out of the baitball and ambush feeding, with a school of dolphins corralling the ball and keeping it together. There was just me and one other guy out and the ball seemed to accelerate quickly towards us and drifted between us and the beach. The whale smashed it again and on its return back into deeper water blew straight under us almost knocking us both on the way through as it was so shallow. I've never been that close to a whale before...seriously awe inspiring!
Me and old mate were both buzzing but also kind of shitting about what else was about. Heart was racing for sure! Caught the next one to the beach and shared it with about 3-4 dolphins...don't know if they were escorting me out of there or not but it's a morning I won't forget in a hurry.
Nature rocks.
Wow, that's incredible.
It's crazy...after writing that story my hands are shaking again...full sensory experience/overload!
Lucky bugger.
Baitballs +Shark Sightings [BEACHES CLOSED] Ballina to Hastings Point.
Shorebreak Baitballs extend to Nth Burleigh. (Very early in season & close to shore) Take Care!
[SHARK ALERT] (Official Feeding Frenzy)
Inshore Baitballs extending north from Ballina to North Stradbroke Island.
30 bull sharks + Tiger /Reef Sharks wading thru baitballs. "Hold onto the kids Ma!"
Whale Season has also officially started early.(Huge Humpback sighted off Fingal Head)
Enjoy your Endless Summer.