Great whites off Newport Beach: photos from 2002
April 26th, 2008, 11:15 am · 11 Comments · posted by Laylan Connelly, staff writer
Check out these insane photos of great white sharks munching on a dead blue whale taken by Newport Beach lifeguard Brent Jacobsen in 2002.
As you’ve probably heard by now, a man was killed yesterday just south of Orange County in Solana Beach by a great white as he trained with a group of other swimmers for a triathlon.
First let me say – my deepest condolences to Dr. David Martin’s family. If you missed the story we wrote, check it out here.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about great whites off our shore here in Orange County. One guy from Manhattan Beach said his surfboard got nailed by one at Dog Beach in Huntington, and an expert confirmed that it was indeed a great white that bit into it. Read my interview with him here.
Lifeguards dismissed that claim as unverified.
Jacobsen said he was just a few feet from the shark as he snapped the photos. I would have been freaking out. Here’s how he described it:
” The most remarkable part of the experience was witnessing the shark’s speed. As we towed the whale carcass seaward, we would periodically stop to make sure the sharks followed. We would see the great white up to a quarter mile behind the whale, then in what seemed like only seconds it was hitting the whale. It did this through out the early evening. An almost full moon let us see the sharks after dark.”
These 2002 photos out of Newport show that they have indeed been out there – especially if we put out a meal for them. Big thanks to Sean Collins, chief forecaster of Surfline.com, for giving us a head’s up about the photos.
Here’s Jacobsen’s description of the photos you’re looking at:
“These pictures were taken in late August of 2002. The blue whale corpse was found at the Newport Harbor Sea buoy, located about 300 yards off the end of the West Jetty (The Wedge Jetty). Several sharks were eating the whale. The biggest was a great white that was over 15 feet long. The great white was between half and two thirds the length of the 30-foot lifeguard boat. We towed the whale corpse south, towards the 14-mile bank. At about 1 a.m. the whale was set adrift with several sharks still eating the corpse. The next day we found the whale with several sharks eating it. Video was taken. Eventually, the whale drifted to shore. We believe it is the same whale that was buried at San Onofre State Beach.”
According to stories, the great whites hung out in that area for a while. State Parks Superintendant Rich Rozzelle yesterday told me they posted signs warning the public about the sharks, and they were even given pet names (one of them was named “fluffy.”) 
Collins remembers the sharks down at San Onfore.
“These white sharks eating the whale off Newport in 2002 obviously followed it to San Onofre where it was buried. But the whale oil in the water even after it was buried continued for months afterwards, ruining many surfers wetsuits. There continued to be multiple white shark sightings at the whale’s buried location in San Onofre for more than a year after it was buried, as well as new white shark pups in the area. Another pup was just sighted less than a month ago in the same area.”
I’m no expert, but it’s about this point that I’m going to mention that a few gray whales have been buried recently in Huntington Beach. Click here to find out where the latest one was buried, and here’s a blog I wrote from October when a 50-footer was buried at Brookhurst St.
Collins said that the mothers, or “sisters” as they are called, come close to shore to put their offspring. He said they like to come to locations where water is deep close to shore – such as Newport Canyon in Newport, Pt. Dume off Malibu, El Porto or Redondo in the South Bay and Black Canyon in La Jolla.
“These are the areas where there have been more sightings over the years, especially during late spring through fall when we begin to have grunion runs and increasing bait in the water,” he wrote.
I’m not sure how freaked out we should be over this, considering the chances of being hit. But I have to admit, I’m a bit nervous about going out in the water.
Have you ever seen a shark? Share your experience in the comments section below.
Yikes!
The sharks belong in the ocean, we are just visitors. I think that if you want to play in the ocean, you run the risk of being attacked. The sharks are hungry and should not be hunted and destroyed for trying to find food. We do not own the world, so why do we humans keep trying to control everything? Sharks were here long before we were. Let them be.
Wrong! Humans are a superior species–from opposable thumbs to microchips–and we should be able to protect ourselves in any habitat. If we are just visitors in the ocean, are we also just visitor on land because the rats were here first? I’m tired of the idea that animals are “innocent,” and therefore have more (or even equal) rights to this planet.
Great whites, and many other sharks species, need to be thinned out along the Pacific Coast. They are a threat to our recreation and they compete for many food fish. If you think that is harsh, I won’t even go into what we should do with the California Seal Lion.
Oh geez, fightin’ words!
I sighted a whale, either gray or humpback about a mile offshore north of the Santa Ana River outlet. We were in a 38 ft sailboat heading west. The whale was running on the same course between us and the beach. This was on Saturday, April 12 around 10:45 am. I estimate it was about 40 to 45 ft long and stayed near the surface for a few minutes. Perhaps the sharks are looking for seals or whales in trouble.
The California “Seal Lion”? Sounds like a fisherman to me. That is the most arrogant comment I have read in a long time. If we have a rogue in the area than yes we need to deal with him. But “thin them out for our recreation”? That is seriously sad priorities. I love to surf, fish, boat or just generally hang out doing anything at the beach/ocean. I love the ocean for exactly what it is. Wild and untamable. Maybe we can make a nice little bubble world for everyone that can’t be bothered by all those scary animals.
Bury some whales, and then see what happens? Was that decided at the same meeting where they ignored the guy from Manhattan Beach whose board got munched?
Better yet, let’s just blame it all on the bleeding heart enviromentalists — is there ever a problem that can’t be pinned on them?
simple, like it or not, you go into their enviornment, they will be out there. Early morning and early evening is when they hunt the most, especially around creek or river outlets ( more for central and northern calif. both locations I surfed fopr over 15 years)
Pete Wilson banned White Shark hunting. These animals ARE needed for the good of the ocean. Without them the ecosystem, not just in SoCal, but world wide suffers. If it interfers with your recreation as one reader suggested, and we need to defend ourselfs, well then wait till they come on land to do so. Thats their world, we simply take a day pass from time to time. You see one walkin down the street, then it may be different. Until then, respect them.
You are a dumb ass if you believe that sharks do have the right to attack you if you are swimming in the ocean. You don’t go to the Sahara and walk in front of lions, or go walking along a river in Africa near croc’s! If you do and you are attacked you’re the one at fault not the animal. They are following natural instincts, besides most shark attacks are mistaken identity attacks. Lions and Crocs will kill you and consume you, as well the tiger and bull shark will, but as it has been shown White sharks don’t seem to like the way humans taste. Just because we are the most evolved species on the planet, doesn’t mean that we have the right to dominate it or destroy the other creatures on it. Sharks serve a purpose and whether you like it or not you need to respect them!
I just love how most of you take the “they were here first” and “cant everyone just get along” approach to this issue and don’t except the fact that as Humans, we must deal with unwanted predators that effect our lives. As one person correctly pointed out, rats and even snakes have been here well before us as well. Yet you wouldn’t think of simply letting it live in your home and have it cohabitating with your family. If you would, then you are the “dumb ass” as Peter puts it. What happens to a mountain lion when it comes down into a yard and walks off with a family pet, let alone a human? The animal is typically hunted down and removed or exterminated. Doesn’t the ecosystem suffer by doing this as well? Yet we do it and I don’t hear people getting up in arms when this occurs. However, if it happens in the ocean somehow it’s a different deal as most of you do not spend a lot of time there and it doesn’t affect your life. I’m not saying I’m in favor of killing all sharks here. But I am saying that there possibly needs to be action taken in light of the significant increase in recent attacks and sightings throughout So Cal. And a possible solution, as one wrote earlier, is the thinning near heavily populated coast lines when numbers of great whites have significantly increased and pose a threat.
i think sharks are miss-understood.Sharks do not prey on people but when people are around it just happens