A family has described the terror of being stranded at sea while a great white shark circled their boat.
David Tuckfield was fishing off the Australian coast with his wife Tanya and 14-year-old son when they came to the attention of the fearsome creature.
The shark approached the small vessel off the coast of Mandurah, south of Perth, last week.
Measuring at up to four metres, it was more than half the size of the boat and seemed determined to take a chunk out of it.
Mr Tuckfield told 9News it seemed to be ‘fixated’ with the spinning blades of the outboard motor mounted to the back.
The shark chomped at it several times over an hour and even tried to snatch the keen fisherman’s catch.
The West Australian man wasn’t phased by the close call with one of nature’s apex predators and the family made it back to shore without a scratch.
He said: ‘Such a big majestic creature.
‘We don’t appreciate them until you see them up close and it is their playground.’
Last year it was reported that some Australian organisations are reforming how they talk about sharks to dispel their negative image.
Attacks have been rebranded as ‘negative encounters’ or ‘interactions’ in a bid to reset our relationship with the misunderstood creatures.
Campaigners have long called for a change in the language in a bid to boost conservation efforts.
