(image source: Carolina Beach Today)

BY LOGAN TITTLE

ANCHOR ANTHONY MARTINEZ

You're watching multisource U.S video news analysis by Newsy.

Looks like the tide has turned!
Eric Jacobs, a fisherman from Massachusetts, jumped off his boat in Cape Cod for the chance of a lifetime—literally.


JACOBS: "Oh, I've been waiting for an opportunity like this my whole life to see something really big like on the water like this."

ABC: “So, what does Jacobs do? Here's a hint...and there's his foot...he's getting ready...to jump on the shark.”
(video source: ABC6)

KABC reports -- he hitched a ride for 15 feet underwater. Luckily the shark Jacobs jumped on wasn’t interested in feasting on flesh—it only eats plankton.

Andy Dehart (Dee-heart) tells FOX—

DEHART: “This turned out to be an OK case. The basking shark is a plankton feeder much like the whale shark is so there’s not really anything that this shark would do to every potentially attack."

FOX: "You’re saying he was operating in a safe zone?"

DEHART: "With this shark, yes."

The video has drawn plenty of fans for the fearless fisherman -- but also criticism from animal rights activists.
Jacobs tells Boston’s WCVB -- he had good intentions.

“I eat, sleep, dream tuna fishing and shark fishing, but I did not want to hurt anything in the ocean. It was just an experience of a lifetime.”

The Patriot Ledger says Basking sharks are the second largest fish in the ocean.
Even though this is something wildlife officials frown upon—it’s not illegal, and Jacobs says he’d do it again if given the chance.