Peter Gillham, 23, participated with three of his friends for the very first time in the Halifax Nova Scotia International Tuna Tournament. They hoped to spend time on the water and catch tuna for charity, with proceeds going to the IWK foundation. They ended up reeling in something much bigger. “We thought it’d be a great fundraiser, lots of fun and an opportunity to fish some tuna,” says Gillham, a recreational fisher. Their first day aboard the Camjax on Wednesday, the team fished out a 590-pound bluefin, putting them in third place for the competition at that point. “We were super stoked,” says Gillham. “Having a big catch, we wanted to go out there and do it all over again and hopefully get one bigger.” So, on Thursday at 7 a.m., the team sailed out from the Armdale Yacht Club, heading more than five kilometres off the coast. “It was a gorgeous day out, it was relatively calm and sunny,” Gillham says. They hooked another tuna around 12:45 p.m., battling the bluefin for nearly two hours. But when the fish emerged at the surface, the team knew something was amiss. “I noticed a bunch of blood coming out,” says Gillham. “We were wondering what that was all about, then it rolled over and there was this big chunk, a big bite out of it. Right away we knew there must be a shark around.” It wasn’t long before the great white made its appearance. Gillham says within 30 seconds of seeing the bite the creature emerged, half the size of the boat and circling the vessel. “We were freaking out,” he says. The team was shocked and fascinated, recording the encounter and later sharing it to their personal social media. “We forgot about the tuna for a sec, we just started looking at the great white,” says Gillham. “It made the boat seem small when you’re looking at a shark that’s 15-feet long.” In a statement to CTV News Atlantic, a spokesperson for Oceana writes great whites are increasingly common, with more tagged and tracked around the coast of Nova Scotia. “Several encounters and observations have made waves in local media because of the increased awareness and public interest,” reads the statement. “If there is tuna fishing happening while a white shark happens to be nearby, it’s not surprising it would come to investigate the sounds/smells.” The shark circled the Camjax vessel a few times and enjoyed some more tuna. A few brushes near the back of the boat made the team on board a bit apprehensive. “It swam to the back of the boat and started biting on the swim platform there a couple times, then we decided to cut the tuna off and get out of there,” Gillham says. “It’s a big fish, it could probably do some serious damage to the boat. We were a couple kilometres offshore there, we didn’t want to end up in the ocean with it.” It took around an hour and a half to get back to shore, where they shared the video with other competitors. “All the other boats in the tournament had seen the video at that point and they were all freaking out. Everyone thought it was pretty cool,” Gillham says. “It was a great way to end off the tournament.” While the team wishes they caught the second tuna, Gillham says they’d absolutely compete again. “It was a blast to be out there with your friends all day trying to hook on to tuna which is a pretty remarkable experience,” he says. “Being for a great charity like the IWK foundation, it’s a great experience,” Gillham says. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
