iStockphoto / qldian
A truly wild encounter took place over the weekend just down the way from where I live here in SW Florida. Someone riding a jet ski off Anna Maria Island, Florida filmed a bull shark seeming attacking the jet ski.
Bull sharks have long had a reputation as the most aggressive sharks in the ocean and this clip is not doing anything to rehabilitate the image of the species.
Bull Shark Attacks Jet Ski Off Anna Maria Island, Florida
This area around Anna Maria Island is teeming with aquatic life. Spring is heating up, despite this fleeting cold front we are currently experiencing, and it was 85+ degrees last weekend when the shark attack occurred.
Warmer water in the Spring ushers in migratory fish, tarpon fishing season is just around the corner, and Anna Maria Island sits at the Southern mouth of Tampa Bay where an untold amount of water gets flushed in and out of the bay every day with all sorts of creatures getting shuffled around with the tides. This all leads to a teeming marine ecosystem alive with sharks.
In fact, last time I was in Anna Maria Island I caught a 4ft bull shark myself while fishing in waist-deep water. I was on a boat but there was an old man fishing in waders about 50 yards from where I hooked the shark… You never know what’s in the water!
This incident has already been viewed tens of thousands of times across Facebook and YouTube. It was filmed by John Lacey of Cortez Water Sports and shared with Bob Harrigan of ABC7 on FB Reels who said the bull shark attack occurred somewhere between Anna Maria Island and Passage Key. Check it out:
How would you react in that situation? I’d certainly have gone full throttle out of there.
How Common Are Attacks?
Interestingly, I found myself in a similar situation about 15 years ago off Staniel Cay in The Bahamas, but with a tiger shark not a bull shark. I was on a wave runner cruising around with a friend who was riding on another one and a tiger shark somehow thought it was a great idea to swim right between us and then make a huge splash.
The Florida Museum tracks all shark attacks worldwide. Great White Sharks lead all reported attacks, both non-fatal and fatal, in their database (292/59, respectively). Followed by Tigers (103/39) and Bull Sharks (92/26). You can checkout that full database here.