Speaking on Sunrise on Thursday, McLaughlin said the shark appeared calm and inquisitive, circling the vessel for close to two hours with no signs of aggression.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just turned up to the boat, and we just let it hang around us for the next two hours. It was a good experience,\u201d McLaughlin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t actually really aggravated or anything, it was just checking us out pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the encounter, McLaughlin tried tossing the shark a mackerel but said the animal showed little interest in food, instead focusing its attention on the boat itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt actually wasn\u2019t hungry; it was just swimming around the boat pretty well, checking us out. I chucked out a fish earlier, and it just completely ignored it, sank to the bottom, and was more interested in checking us out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Vision of the moment McLaughlin made contact with the shark has prompted concern from viewers, but he insisted the interaction had been misunderstood.<\/p>\n
He said rather than patting the shark\u2019s nose, he was \u201cpushing it away\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was potentially going to put some teeth marks in my boss\u2019s boat. It was really docile. It looks a bit more extreme than it is,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
![\"Fisherman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/fa3938cadc860b7d9cc6c515a1f97ff2a3340707.png\")
Fisherman Kevin McLaughlin grabbed a great white shark\u2019s nose off Victoria\u2019s Surf Coast. Credit: Sunrise<\/p>\n
The close encounter comes after weeks of heightened concern around shark incidents along Australia\u2019s east coast, sparking renewed debate about whether shark numbers are on the rise.<\/p>\n
McLaughlin said his experience does not suggest a sudden surge in local populations, saying he doesn\u2019t believe there\u2019s \u201cany real population boom down here\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been fishing out there pretty hard for at least 20 years, and this is the first time we\u2019ve seen one off Anglesea, Torquay; that sort of Surf Coast area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While some have questioned whether feeding sharks could encourage them to linger in popular areas, McLaughlin believes the isolated incident is unlikely to change behaviour.<\/p>\n
\u201cA once-off time like this, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s probably really going to make a difference,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n