DRAMATIC drone footage from high above Fingal Bay has captured the full extent of a shark hunt off the popular Port Stephens strip.
Running mullet have given predators plenty of incentive to slice through the clear green waters off the bay, drawing crowds on the sand that have previously forced authorities to close the beach.
Footage from this month, uploaded to YouTube by Damian Hurley, offers a bird’s eye view of the predators doing what they do best among the thick tide of fish.
Fairfax Media has previously reported on the closures.
Tony Carrozzi, a regular visitor to Fingal Bay at this time of year, snapped photos of the sharks feeding on mullet jumping out of the water about 3pm on Tuesday.
“The mullet were there all day, and so were the sharks,” Mr Carrozzi, from Sydney, said at the time.
“Late afternoon they [sharks] got really close to the beach.
“I don’t know how many there were but at times you could see them swimming in pairs.”
Mr Carrozzi said that in the years he had been visiting Port Stephens at Easter, mullet had been making an appearance in the Bay.
It was what drew him, and his children, to the beach on the day – to watch the fish jump out of the water.
There have been several shark sightings in Port Stephens this month, with the mullet feeding and closures arriving two weeks after a reported shark encounter at One Mile Beach.
Ambulance NSW said paramedics treated a 46-year-old man with minor cuts to his left foot and calf on April 2.
He was taken to the John Hunter Hospital in a stable condition.
The species of the shark that the man encountered is unknown.
A jetski could be seen zooming around Fingal Bay throughout Tuesday.
Port Stephens lifeguard supervisor Phil Rock said this was protocol.
“If a shark is spotted we launch a jetski to do a search of the area to determine if it is safe to open the beach,” he said.
