Watch the Crazy Moment a Great White Shark Leaps in Front of Boy on Cape Cod Boat

Alisa Hrustic

From Prevention

One family’s fishing trip turned into a moment they’ll never forget after a great white shark leapt out of the water just a few feet away from their on a boat in Cape Cod—and the stunning encounter was captured on video.

Doug Nelson and his son, Jack, were out on Cape Cod Bay, just off the coast of Massachusetts, when the moment happened on Saturday. Nelson told CNN that one of the boys had hooked a “good-sized fish” so he quickly started filming on his phone to record the moment.

As the fish was being reeled in, a giant shark—later confirmed by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy as a great white—jumped out of the water and snagged the fish right off the line. The boy was nearly hit by the shark’s tail and flees away from the edge of the boat. Nelson told New England Cable News that it “gave us a pretty good scare,” per the Associated Press.

In just one week at the end of June, researchers identified 12 great white sharks near Cape Cod Bay, according to CNN. The increase in numbers is likely due to booming seal populations, a go-to meal for the predator.

Their thriving presence has concerned beachgoers—one popular area in Cape Cod, Head of the Meadow Beach, was even forced to close mid-July after “quite a few” sharks were spotted off near the shore.

Thankfully, shark attacks are pretty rare. There were only 32 unprovoked shark attacks in the U.S. in 2018, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.

Still, there’s always a slim possibility when you’re in the water—so avoiding fishing areas, wearing shiny objects, and swimming at dusk or dawn can help minimize your risk of coming in contact with one, ocean life experts recently told Prevention.

And if you are simply just out fishing on a boat? Take this as a reminder that anything can happen when wild animals are involved, per this tweet from local shark researchers in Massachusetts: “Good reminder that [white sharks] don’t just eat seals and always be cautious when retrieving your catch.”

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