HALIFAX -- A lobster fisherman from New Brunswick is sharing his close encounter with a shark that swam almost within arm's length of his boat.
"I was probably a mile off the wharf," said fisherman Justin MacDonald. "One of the guys working with me says, 'Hey, there's a shark right in front of us.'”
MacDonald brushed him off at first, but then he noticed the fin.
On Friday, several photos taken by MacDonald were posted to his family business' Facebook page showing a buoy in the same area with bite marks, and large shark teeth that were left behind.
"We've been getting buoys with bites in them so we've just been looking and then we noticed a whole bunch of shark teeth in the buoy," said MacDonald.
The teeth appear to be from a great white shark. Many tourists exploring the wharf in Alma, N.B. on Saturday heard the news about the shark sighting.
"Wouldn’t say it's unique, but I think it's something pretty, it hasn’t happened a lot," said Josh Hilton, a tourist to the area. "And it's certainly something to maybe see, or be concerned about, if you're going out in the water in a small vessel."
Some tourists say they're even having second thoughts about getting in the water after hearing the news about the sighting.
"Now I'm definitely not going to go kayaking," said tourist Taryn Forrestall.
MacDonald, who often spends months at a time on his boat, said shark sightings near Alma are rare, especially so close to shore.
"To see them this close to home, it's kind of, I guess, if you're unaware of it, like I was, it's kind of a little alarming," said MacDonald.
Another shark sighting in the Maritimes was caught on camera on Wednesday. The video, also posted to social media, shows what apears to be a great white shark swimming alongside a family's speed boat off the coast of Wedgeport, N.S.
Samantha Leblanc, who witnessed the shark sighting in Wedgeport, said her boat is just under six metres in length, and the shark was about three-quarters the size of the boat.
