Massive shark caught on camera by Fall River fisherman

FALL RIVER, Mass. — When he’s not fighting fires in Fall River, Tyler Lima is fishing and working toward getting his captain’s license.

He has seen some things out on the water, but nothing like this massive shark.

“The video does no justice on that thing,” said Lima

Lima was fishing about 25 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard when he couldn’t miss the massive shark circling his boat.

“I’ve got a 23-foot sea craft, and that fish when its head was past the stern of the boat, I was like man this thing is no joke and it circled the boat 3 or 4 times,” said Lima.

Also out on the water right now is the team from OCEARCH, collecting data by tagging and tracking white sharks.

“We’ve been able to tag one so far – a beautiful 10-foot 8-inch female – we’re just real pleased with the weather right now – because we are so far off the beach,” said Chris Fischer, OCEARCH Expedition Leader.

The shark is named after the Greek character Andromache, one of many gradually increasing its visits to the Cape Cod area, according to Fischer.

“You guys got 4 or 500 sharks that come through here every year and those numbers are going to probably steadily rise and its good – I mean they are basically here protecting your fisheries from the seals,” said Fischer.

Fischer says white sharks are ultimately protecting lobster, striper, mackerel and cod populations that seals would decimate.

“If they weren’t here those seals would basically wipe out your commercial and recreations fishery,” said Fischer.

We also sent the OCEARCH experts Tyler Lima’s now viral video.

“A basking shark, similar to the whale shark that’s in more tropical waters – kind of a special thing for someone to see in real life -one of our gentle giants in the ocean,” said Fischer.

Basking sharks get even bigger than white sharks, and according to Fischer also part of a positive story on the east coast.

“Our ocean is returning to abundance,” said Fischer.

And now part of Tyler Lima’s story too.

With video to prove it.

“When something comes up that’s the size of like a full size truck under you boat. It kind of catches you off guard when you are just sitting there in the middle of nowhere,” said Lima.

>> Previous from Boston 25 News: Family’s close call with great white shark caught on camera

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