A close encounter between a whale and a fishing boat has gone viral after dramatic footage was captured of the huge creature surfacing alongside the vessel to feast on sardines.

Albany fisherman Bryn Westerberg filmed the video about three nautical miles east of Bald Head, showing a whale, dolphins and sharks feeding around a school of sardines as the fishing crew hauled in their catch on Thursday morning.

The footage has attracted widespread attention on social media for the unexpected moment when the whale surfaces to swallow the straggling fish.

Mr Westerberg has been fishing in Albany for years and said the encounter happened at a deep water bank where sardines tend to gather and whales are regularly seen.

“(It happened) at a deep water bank that drops off from 40 to 70 metres and currents run along it,” he said.

“The sardines like sitting in on that bank into the current presumably feeding and it’s also a bit of a highway for whales because you seem to get a lot travelling along that bank as well,” he said.

“Before we shoot the net we’re very cautious because there are a lot of whales around, but I didn’t see or hear any so we had a shot and caught some fish.

“As we bunted up, which is when you get the end of the net alongside the boat to get the fish out, one just came up out of nowhere, only two, three metres away from the boat.”

Mr Westerberg said the whale repeatedly surfaced beside the boat as dolphins and sharks also fed around the school of fish.

“Because we had the lights on and there was a school of fish schooling up and sort of continually getting bigger outside of the net, the dolphins and sharks were sort of swiping through, feeding on them and then this whale come up and had a big gulp,” he said.

“I thought I’ll start videoing just in case he does it again and he came up and did it about probably 10 or 12 times.”

Despite years on the water, Mr Westerberg said it was a sight he had never witnessed before.

“I never had one that close or have seen them feed, not that type of feeding on the surface before,” he said.

“We’ve seen them feeding mouth open and slowly travelling up a tide line where there’s krill and plankton and whatever else they eat, but not the big gulp.

“My two crew on the boat, they were pretty excited to see it, they were in awe.

“I certainly haven’t seen that so close before.

“It might be once in a lifetime, but I’ve probably still got 30 or 40 years left for fishing in me, so I might get to see it again.”