The shark from the video posted last Tuesday in Inverness.
July 2, 2025
-by April MacDonald
Fisherman Jimmy MacArthur is the son of a fisherman, most of his siblings are fishers or fished the family licenses or have their own. They all basically grew up in the wheelhouse or hauling traps.
Last week, Jimmy had a close encounter like he had never experienced before.
On Tuesday of last week, Oran staff were doing their usual production layout when a notification came across social media, posted by one of MacArthur’s crew, Richard Gillis. He posted an eye-popping video of a great white shark circling their boat for almost five minutes, and eventually taking a curious taste test of the boat’s hull.
It was a 4.5-metre great white shark, a sight that is becoming increasingly more common off the coast of Inverness, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
MacArthur and his crew were fishing off of Sight Point in about 18-metres of water, when he heard a considerable splash and then spotted a dorsal fin.
He’s been on the water all his life and, in his 40 years of fishing professionally, he’s never had an experience like he had last week.
Most of all those who fish the waters off the coast of the western side of Inverness County will tell you the same thing: they are seeing more and more great whites every year.
MacArthur has an impressive boat, so he said he felt more excitement than he did fear.
After the video was posted, it went viral and since then, MacArthur has made local and national news with multiple broadcasters and news agencies.
Most young people growing up in this area have spent their summer days on fishing boats – swimming and jumping off the boat – time after time.
With the increase in sightings of great white sharks, most people from here will tell you that they “won’t be doing that again”.
What’s more, is that the attack that happened to a young Margaree woman in 2021, who was carrying on the same tradition as everyone her age did for decades – jumping off the boat and climbing back up the ladder, spending the day with friends on the water. This time, she was the victim of Canada’s first recorded great white shark attack, who took a bite out of her leg. The shark likely thought it was seal, as they were near Margaree Island, where you will find hundreds and hundred of seals – which happens to be a great white’s favourite snack.
Luckily, her friends got her out of the water and leapt into action, using a belt as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, which saved her life. That belt was later made into leather bracelets for each of the friends who were on the boat that day, made by a Sydney artist. The bracelet serves as a chilling reminder of what they endured but also a celebration that they survived one of the most terrifying encounters that anyone has experienced in these waters.
Great white sharks are a protected species in Canada, so experts with Fisheries and Oceans Canada remind the public that it is against the law to touch them or harm them.
MacArthur’s wife, Angela, was supposed to be out on the water with them that day; he felt badly that she missed such a rare and close encounter.
The three largest shark species are the whale shark, basking shark, and great white shark. The whale shark is the largest, followed by the basking shark, and then the great white shark.
In Canada, great white sharks were listed by Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) as endangered in 2006, and listed under the Species At Risk Act (SARA) as endangered, five years later. As great whites are one of the top predators in the ocean, their main threats come from human activities.
The main predators of great white sharks are orcas (killer whales). Orcas are known to hunt and kill great whites, sometimes targeting and consuming their livers.
In the first week of June, a pod of orcas were being posted all over social media as they were hanging around up north and filmed by people fishing off the coast of Ingonish. Lobster fishers in northern Cape Breton got an up-close glimpse of the pod of killer whales, a sight that is also on the rise.
Bernie Lamey was hauling lobster traps not far off Cape Smokey, when a couple of orcas began circling his boat. In a mere ten minutes, they had counted about a dozen of them, who seemed to be in a curious and playful mood.
Getting back to the great whites visitors – maybe they are making a splash for the 50th anniversary of the movie that made everyone scared to go into the water, Jaws.
