Great white off Panama City sparks shark debate

Capt. Scott Fitzgerald of Madfish Charters wishes he had never posted the video-gone-viral of what he said was a great white shark gnawing on the trolling motor of his fishing boat in the Gulf off of Panama City Beach on Jan. 19.

He's become the target of naysayers who say the shark is a mako, not a great white.

To be sure, even shark experts are having a hard time determining which one it is from the video.

"I can't be 100-percent sure it's a great white. It's hard to tell from the video," said John Carlson, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Southeast Fisheries shark researcher who has examined the video.

Though he can't for certain identify Fitzgerald's shark, Carlson said he's not surprised if it were a great white, especially this time of the year.

While not common, whites are known to venture into the Northern Gulf in the winter to feed on newly-birthed marine mammals, such as bottlenose dolphins.

Makos and great whites are from the same family, said Carlson, with the NOAA's Panama City office.

"It looks more like a white," he said. "They look very similar. It would be easier to tell if we had video from the side rather than looking down form the top."

Fitzgerald, however, is certain it's a great white. He did, after all, stare the shark in the face from 3 feet away. And he said other shark experts in the state he's sent the video to and has been interviewed by also believe it's a great white.

Those trying to discredit Fitzgerald believe it's blue like a mako and not gray like a great white.

"I had gotten a pretty good look at it," Fitzgerald said. "It's not blue. It's gray and has triangle teeth. The water was blue. When it swam under the boat, it looked blue in the video."

Makos have sharper teeth.

Fitzgerald has also seen great whites off of the California coast three times. But he's never had one ram his boat before.

That's what happened on Monday while trolling at his favorite fishing hole in the Gulf.

"All of a sudden it was boom!" he recalled. "It hit with such force, it moved the boat two feet. The boat started rocking and shaking. I was like, 'What did we hit? What did we hit?'"

He looked over the side of his 22-foot boat and saw his trolling motor in the shark's mouth. Fitzgerald pulled up the motor. The shark drifted off. Every time he dropped the motor back in the water, the shark spun back around and grabbed it.

"It was like someone rang a dinner bell," he said. "I know that great whites are attracted to electricity."

Carlson confirmed great white sharks are known to be attracted to objects that emit electrical impulses. "What is this object is giving off is a weird electrical impulse?" Carlson said of what might have motivated the shark to grab the motor.

Zinc oxide on the motor or sides of the boat, the hum of the trolling engine and even a turned-off engine's battery could attract the shark, he said.

After videotaping the shark swimming around and underneath his boat, Fitzgerald decided it was time to "pull up the trolling motor and get out of there."

He never felt like his life was endangered. But now he's worried about the shark's life. Another backlash of posting the video on social media is that some anglers are now hunting the Gulf trying to catch the shark.

"I don't want anyone killing it," he said.

Fitzgerald is keeping the spot of his great white encounter a secret, only saying he was 8.5 miles off of the coast in less than 100 feet of water.

To put that in perspective of how near to shore the shark was; the popular diving ship Oriskany is 22 miles off of Pensacola in about 200 feet of water.

Carlson is also sure the shark was not trying to sink the boat or eat the anglers.

"They're just curious...exploring," he said of sharks. "They're not trying to attack the boat from a food perspective."

With no hands to touch and feel, Carlson said sharks mouth objects to find out: "What is this? Can I eat this?"

If it is a great white, it's not the first one to venture into the Gulf off of Northwest Florida and become a social media sensation.

Katharine, a great white and one of four sharks that are part of a tag-and-release project conducted by Ocearch scientists to study Atlantic great whites, had social media fans tracking her every move from Cape Cod to the continental shelf off of Panama City Beach last summer.

And Fitzgerald's shark is just more proof that great whites enjoy visiting Florida as much as snowbirds.

Carlson, who contributed to a study authored by NOAA shark researcher Toby Curtis and based on 200 years of data, said great whites, more common to northern and mid-Atlantic waters, have been reported in the Northern Gulf from Florida to Louisiana and even as far west as Texas.

"They're no threat to the public in terms of worrying about being attacked," Carlson said. "We recommend the same thing we do for all sharks, avoid swimming in areas of schools of bait fish or where anglers are trying to catch fish."