Maritime scientists recently let the Southern California community know that the region is in for a “sharky summer.” Warmer-than-usual waters and an incoming El Niño were drivers behind an onslaught of sightings during the spring. Scientists forecast that the frequency of sightings will pick up, or at least endure through the summer.
Carlos Gauna, also known as The Malibu Artist on social media channels, has been documenting shark activity by drone for years, and he validated those claims back in March when researchers were starting to notice the surge.
“This year, there’s been a big uptick in sharks,” Gauna told NBCLA at the time, adding on his YouTube page that “Over the last few weeks, I’ve been documenting white shark activity from the air and along the shoreline — and what I’m seeing right now is very different from years past.”
Summer is now knocking on our door and Gauna has produced almost a dozen YouTube videos documenting more shark activity. He’s been busy. A recent video might be one of the more unique observations (and interactions) Gauna has had with a great white through this stretch. The videographer jumped in his kayak for a closer look when he spotted a great white and a sea lion nearby.
A partner filmed by drone throughout the whole process, capturing the moment the great white came close to inspect Gauna’s kayak and the GoPro setup behind him. As juveniles like to do, this one performed a personal inspection of the camera and then fled the scene almost immediately. Inspection done. And lucky for Guana, the fish actually left the camera behind. It was intact enough that he was able to recover the footage.
“This year is turning out to be one of the hottest years for finding great white sharks along our coast,” he says. “With everything we saw today, I have no doubt I’ll be filming some pretty epic stuff.”
Photo: Malibu Artist//YouTube
