{"id":616298,"date":"2026-04-19T03:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T03:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/616298\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T03:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T03:11:09","slug":"brett-barley-surrounded-by-hundreds-of-spinner-sharks-in-massive-feeding-frenzy-north-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/616298\/","title":{"rendered":"Brett Barley surrounded by hundreds of spinner sharks in massive feeding frenzy, North Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">A fisherman has captured the heart-stopping moment he found himself surrounded by hundreds of sharks during a massive feeding frenzy off the coast of North Carolina.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Brett Barley was enjoying a routine fishing trip near Cape Hatteras when the ocean suddenly erupted around him, with spinner sharks launching from the water in all directions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Dramatic GoPro footage shows the predators thrashing violently as they chased a dense school of baitfish, creating what Mr Barley later described as a once-in-a-lifetime encounter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3mk41m-StyledText eze0guv9\">Sign up to The Nightly&#8217;s newsletters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1r9pdr5-StyledSubText eze0guv8\">Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>By continuing you agree to our <a href=\"https:\/\/thenightly.com.au\/subscription-terms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Terms<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sevenwestmedia.com.au\/privacy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The video captures dozens of sharks circling the jet ski as the water churns with movement, the animals darting beneath the surface before launching themselves into the air.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Sharing the footage on Instagram, Mr Barley wrote: \u201cA MASSIVE Shark Feeding Frenzy Engulfed my @seadoo while I was out fishing today!<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cHundreds of Sharks eating bait over a 4-acre wide area\u2026 a full-on Nat Geo moment if I\u2019ve ever had one!<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThe things you see in Cape Hatteras never cease to amaze me!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Spinner sharks are known for their acrobatic hunting style, often leaping dramatically from the water as they attack schools of fish. The behaviour can create chaotic scenes when large numbers gather to feed at once.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">As the frenzy intensified, Mr Barley\u2019s shock is audible in the footage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThis is crazy. This is insane. An absolute feeding frenzy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">At one point, as sharks repeatedly broke the surface nearby, he added: \u201cIf you see a lot of sharks above the surface, there\u2019s probably more below,\u201d before yelling: \u201cGet me out of here!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Despite the adrenaline-filled encounter, Mr Barley later admitted he would not willingly repeat the experience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201c10\/10 would not recommend being in the middle of a ball of Spinner Sharks though\u2026I\u2019m very fortunate one didn\u2019t sky right into me or all my gear,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The waters off North Carolina are known for diverse marine life, with the state ranking among the top five locations in the United States for unprovoked shark encounters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The region has previously made headlines for dramatic shark interactions, including footage of fishermen working together to release a 13-foot great white shark off Hatteras Island.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The latest encounter highlights the unpredictable nature of ocean wildlife, particularly during feeding events when large numbers of predators converge in a concentrated area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">While spinner sharks are not typically considered a major threat to humans, experts say being caught in the middle of a feeding frenzy can pose serious risks due to the heightened activity and reduced visibility beneath the surface.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">For Mr Barley, the experience delivered a powerful reminder of the ocean\u2019s raw intensity \u2014 and a story unlikely to be forgotten any time soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A fisherman has captured the heart-stopping moment he found himself surrounded by hundreds of sharks during a massive&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40,1720],"class_list":{"0":"post-616298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories","14":"tag-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}