Overview
- Oscar Ford, 25, fought a roughly two‑metre great white for about 35 minutes off Thirteenth Beach near Barwon Heads on Sunday.
- Multiple cameras recorded the shark biting the boat and swimming alongside before Ford cut the line to release the protected species.
- The group had launched from Ocean Grove and switched tactics to a bait balloon, which drew the shark after a quiet morning.
- Victorian Fisheries Authority chief Travis Dowling said incidental great white encounters are more common now and no dangerous animals have triggered alerts this summer.
- Crowdsourced reports on the Dorsal app noted several recent sightings, including two at Portsea Beach this week and a reported four‑metre white off Lorne Pier on December 23.