VIDEO: Local fishing guide captures great white shark snacking on sturgeon near Isle of Palms

ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCBD) — A local fishing guide captured a right sight on video just off the South Carolina coast last week.

Capt. Christian Cooley, owner of Random Hookup Charters based in Awendaw, said he was sailing in from the ocean on March 14 when he saw a great white shark eating a sturgeon.

The great white, estimated to be about nine to ten feet long, was just five miles from the beach on Isle of Palms.

“I’ve been a full-time guide for a decade, and that was the first time I’ve ever seen a great white in South Carolina,” Capt. Cooley said. “It’ll make you think twice about swimming off the beach.”

He added that sturgeon are usually in fresh or brackish water, but this one was far from any estuary or river while still alive, making the sight even more unique.

According to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, all five US Atlantic sturgeon population segments are endangered or threatened. The species top threats are entanglement in fishing gear, habitat degradation, habitat impediments and vessel strikes.

One habit impediment contributing to the threat is the lock and dams on the Santee-Cooper rivers running through the state.