Incredible drone footage has captured the moment an enormous school of sharks swam beneath a group of children floating on bodyboards.
Photographer Sean Scott couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw two three-metre Bronze Whalers stalking the youngsters at Western Australia’s Red Bluff beach.
‘I’ve never seen them come that close to people… It’s probably as big as they get,’ Mr Scott told Channel Nine’s A Current Affair program
‘I flew [my drone] over and then saw these sharks sort of swimming across thinking, “what’s going on here”?’
The Bronze Whalers came terrifyingly close to the children as they floated on their bodyboards in the water just metres from shore.
‘They were obviously going over to have a little bit of a look and got pretty close and realised that wasn’t their food chain and turned around,’ Mr Scott said.
‘But it was pretty incredible to see these boys just floating on their back.’
Mr Scott said he was was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to capture one of nature’s rare moments.
‘Watching these beautiful sharks flourish in their natural environment was a privilege to see,’ he said.
‘There was a huge bait ball that attracted hundreds of mainly Bronze Whaler sharks. What really impressed me was how people and the sharks were co existing side by side
‘There were people diving and surfing very close to this event and the sharks showed no interest in them and were happy concentrating on the bait ball. What I saw really emphasised just how special the WA coastline is with such a flourishing healthy marine life.
‘I was lucky enough to see Turtles, Humpback whales and all the sharks in the one location. I have also been out swimming with the Manta Rays, Whale Sharks and the ocean life here is second to none.’
The Queensland-based photographer also captured stunning footage of up to 150 Bronze Whalers circling a huge mass of baitfish at the popular beach
Surfers, swimmers and snorkelers gathered to get a rare close-up look of the action.
Mr Scott, who travels the world in the hope of capturing such moments, described it as ‘something special’ that he’d ‘never really seen before.’
‘I constantly just kept flying the drone, bringing it back, changing SD cards, at the same time watching all these surfers,’ he said.
‘[They were] surfing further out the point and people were swimming up to the bait ball, looking into the bait ball.’
He added: ‘I was in awe of these sharks, they were beautiful-looking sharks and there were so many of them, but they showed no interest [in people].’
Mr Scott said he hopes his photography can add some ‘common sense’ to the ongoing shark culling debate in Australia.
‘I really hope it shows that, in a healthy environment like we had there, with so many fish and not over-fished places, that the sharks can live side by side with the people,’ he said.
‘You’ve just got to use a bit of common sense. Give them a wide berth and leave them to themselves, it seems to work great.’
Bronze Whaler sharks often come close to shore and are not typically known for acting aggressively towards humans.
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