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Cape Breton tuna fisherman A.D. MacLean had encountered sharks before, but it wasn’t until mid-October that he encountered his first Great White.
Similar to Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Old Man and the Sea, this shark was attracted by the tuna that MacLean and his crew had just caught.
After catching a tuna, says MacLean, it’s necessary to “swim the fish” near the boat. That lowers its body temperature and keeps the meat from spoiling, he explains.
He and his crew did that with their catch as they pointed their boat, Makin’ Wake, toward their home port of Mabou, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
But as they motored home, a Great White Shark struck, taking a big bite out of the tuna.
“It took the whole tail off the fish,” says MacLean.
But the shark was still hungry. “It came up a second time and took a bite out of the side.”
The approach of the Great White behind the boat caused a ripple of excited energy among the crew. “We were confused at first – didn’t know what to do in the moment. We had to get the tuna in before the shark came back a third time.”
MacLean estimates the shark weighed between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds.
MacLean’s son, Connor, videoed the shark’s approach. His wife Valerie posted the video on her Facebook page.
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In the last eight to 10 years, fishermen like MacLean have encountered more sharks. “You’ll hear of a tuna being bit,” he says.
He recounts a story about a Great White that came up and slapped the side of a P.E.I. fishing boat. Was the shark intent on sinking the boat? Was it after the fishermen? No, says MacLean. “They had bait out, too.”
A lobster boat found a Great White eating a whale off Inverness, Cape Breton, in June, he says.
He thinks the warming ocean is drawing more and more Great White Sharks north. He pointed out the temperature of the ocean when he was speaking with the National Post. “It’s 13 degrees Celsius. It was in the 20s in the summer. It’s getting warmer.”
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The movements of tuna may provide insight into the growing shark population. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas has tagging programs that do just that, keeping track of the tuna population and providing scientific-based stock management advice.
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One tagging program is out of the University of Maine, says MacLean. Tags allow tuna tracking via satellite.
The crew noticed a tell-tale tag on the tuna they caught. It was tagged within half a mile from where they caught it.
The movements of sharks in the North Atlantic are under study, too. One research program is out of Boston University.
Both tuna and shark were encountered close to Mabou.
“We were 17 miles from Mabou when we got the fish. And eight miles away when the shark attacked.”
While the appearance of a Great White can be strangely exhilarating, the damage it does takes a bite out of MacLean’s bottom line. “It’s a big loss,” he says.
The buyer was able to salvage 400 pounds of the tuna and sell it to a customer in Japan, he says.
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