A whale watching tour got the photo opportunity of a lifetime when they saw a rare great white shark feeding from an elephant seal about 30 miles west of Santa Barbara.
The group of about 50 people was aboard the Condor Express, which conducts whale-watching tours daily through the Santa Barbara Channel, according to Capt. Dave Beezer, who has worked for the company for nearly 20 years.
On Aug. 30, the group spotted the floating carcass of a dead elephant seal about 14 miles off the coast of Gaviota, and Beezer knew they were staying in the area, he said. The seal’s head was missing so he thought a predator might be involved. Soon after, a 16 foot adult great white shark came out of the water and started feeding on the carcass.
The Condor Express whale watching tour near Santa Barbara saw a great white shark feeding on an elephant seal on August 30.
(Robert Perry/CondorExpressPhotos.com)
“It dug its jaws into the side of the seal and took out big chunks and then it disappeared out of sight,” he said.
Great white sharks, sometimes called great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), are the species featured in the classic 1975 film “Jaws.” Great white shark populations in the Northeast Pacific are on the rise and are not at risk of becoming endangered in U.S. waters, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The shark circled the boat and surfaced about four or five times to take a bite out of the seal. Robert Perry, who has been photographing the ocean since the late 1960s, was also on board and served as the Condor Express staff photographer. The only time he ever took pictures of white sharks was when they were swimming around or under a dead whale so they weren’t fully visible.
Perry managed to capture several images of the great white shark feeding.
“It was absolutely amazing and a rare opportunity,” Perry added. “It was the shot of a lifetime.”
Beezer said he has seen a great white shark feed about four or five times in his lifetime. He emphasized the importance of the great white shark to the region. Because San Miguel Island serves as a breeding ground for seals, the area has some of the largest seal populations in the world. White sharks keep some of those populations in check, he said.
“It’s not this mindless, killing machine that we should all be terrified of,” he added. “It is a calculating predator that plays an important role in the ocean ecosystem.”