A group of men on a fishing trip off New Jersey were shocked to see a 5m great white shark come up to their boat and rip off their chum bag for an easy meal.

The group were fishing in a small 10m vessel off Cape May at around 17:00 on Saturday when the shark came up to them and made off with their bait, as one of the men exclaimed:

“Unbelievable! She’s gorgeous…She’s beautiful”

Some on the boat worried that the shark may attack them and bite their hands as they held cameras to film the event, a woman can be heard saying:

“That’s the most amazing…”

Great white sharks may become a slightly more common site off the US east coast as conservation efforts introduced in the 1990s appear to have stemmed their decline in the waters. One recent study found an “apparent increase in abundance” of the sea predators in recent years.