A spear fisherman fought off multiple attacks from 10-foot-long sharks who were trying to steal his catch.

Tristan Gandy was fishing for red snapper and gag grouper off Panama City, Florida, USA, when he dived down 90 feet to search an abandoned ship.

Dramatic footage uploaded to social media at the start of January shows the 20-year-old charged at by one bull shark through the green water, taking a bite at the end of this spear.

Over the course of two frantic minutes Tristan fended off further lunges from the sharks before eventually having to jettison his caught fish to distract his pursuers.

Tristan said: “It was really very aggressive behaviour. Bull sharks typically only come in to check out the commotion and then leave, but these did not do so.

“I do believe one or more of these sharks were focused on getting a taste of me rather than the fish. They were aggressively charging me before I had shot any fish.

"Typically these sharks are only after the fish that are hanging off my stringer and dangling on my spear shaft, but these sharks were especially fired up for an unknown reason.

“I would say the size of these sharks were up to 10 foot in length.

“As a diver, we are no strangers to shark encounters and they are very regular. We are in their homes and they need to be treated in that manner and respected.

“I will say, sharks do not typically bother me, nor do they typically behave as they did in the video.

“Staying cool calm and collected is the desired reaction to any encounter such as this. In reality there were several things I could have done differently in this encounter.

“First off, after recognising how aggressive these sharks were before spearing anything I should have resurfaced and moved spots.

“Another thing I should have done is released my fish sooner than I did, but was very hesitant just because my catch was probably worth about $300 at the market.

“But no fish or money is ever worth your safety and even your life.

“Fishing has always been a passion of mine, but Spearfishing quickly overtook it when I received my first speargun for Christmas when I was about nine.

“Regardless of this experience, I do not hate sharks, but have even more respect for them and the environment which they live in. They are typically very docile and don’t present much of a threat.”