Fishing boat catches great white shark off the coast of Ocean City

The crew of a fishing boat off the coast of Ocean City reeled in a big one this weekend: a great white shark.

Crew members of the boat Over-Board set sail on Saturday in the waters off Ocean City to go shark fishing. After about three hours afloat in 85-foot deep waters, with Boston mackerel on their fishing lines, they heard the sound of a catch.

"Click, click, click," went the reel.

To their surprise, they caught a great white shark, a rarity according to Capt. Dustin Lorah.

The 38-year-old Ocean City resident has only seen three great white sharks in his 15 years of shark fishing — two of which he caught on his boat. He brought along a crew of five on Saturday, including Capt. Marshall Vitale, 53, who set the hook and caught the shark.

"We didn't know until it was beside the boat that it was great white," said Lorah, who with the help of his crew, also caught a sandbar shark, sea robins, seabass and two flounder. All but the seabass and flounder were released.

Despite being about 7-feet long and weighing around 150 pounds, Lorah and Vitale said the great white was a fairly easy catch. The shark didn't put up much of a fight.

"It wasn't too bad. It was fine to reel. Not anything out of the ordinary," Lorah said.

After a few minutes — and a few pictures — the crew cut the line and let the shark go, Vitale said.

"It was very thrilling," Vitale said. "We got to see him swim away. I've caught a lot of sharks in my life, but this was scary. It was a scary looking fish."

Lorah was surprised by the public's interest in his crew's catch.

"There was a movie made [41] years ago," he said referring to "Jaws." "They are rare in the area but … it's just shocking to me that it's any kind of news."

Holly Bourbon, curator of large fish exhibits and diving safety officer at the National Aquarium who has swam with great whites larger than 18 feet, said it was a "privilege" for the Over-Board crew to have caught the great white, since it is not common.

But with the growth of technology, which includes satellite devices used to tag and track sharks, Bourbon said scientists and experts are learning more about their movements and patterns, she said.

"It is going to be rare, but if you look off the coast of New England, there's a large population of seals off of the coast near Cape Cod," she said. "If there's a food source, there's obviously going to be great whites."

For people worried about sharks while swimming on the coast, Bourbon recommends the classic beach-goer tips. Avoid swimming alone or at dusk or dawn, and be mindful of things that may attract sharks, like other fish and blood. In the instance that you are in contact with a shark, don't make jerky movements and get out of the water as soon as you can.

If you're a diver, stay calm and "hunker down to the bottom" of the ocean until the shark passes, Bourbon advised, and if you're spear fishing, be sure to get rid of any fish on your spear and get out of the water.

"If they catch something live, it could be an enticement to a bigger shark. You have to be mindful all the time," Bourbon said.