A wildlife filmmaker captured the moment his father unexpectedly got in between bluefin tuna and their intended dinner during a kayaking trip in Devon.
“We had a truly mind-blowing encounter as these gigantic predators chased down garfish,” says Henry Kirkwood who shared the epic encounter with the “Formula One Fish” on his YouTube channel.
"As I was safely perched on the rocks, Dad was in an extremely vulnerable position on the ocean, sitting in his kayak among the hungry tuna.”
Garfish seemed to be using his kayak as a refuge from the hunting tuna. Henry’s father Rupert Kirkwood, aka The Lone Kayaker, realised afterwards he’d been in quite a precarious position.
“Looking back on it, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to be sitting in that particular location, with the risk of being hit by a 300kg projectile flying at 30mph,” he says in his blog. “It would have been painful enough to be slapped in the chops by that lucky garfish!”
Thankfully, he got back to shore unscathed and with an amazing story to tell. It was “unquestionably the wildlife highlight of the year,” says Rupert.
In the 1960s, overfishing caused bluefin tuna to disappear from British waters but, in recent years, they’ve made a comeback thanks to fishing quotas being put in place. “It’s amazing to have these enormous fish back in our waters after decades of persecution and overfishing,” says Henry.
Video credit: Henry Kirkwood Filmmaking | main image: bluefin tuna (not the tuna featured in the story)/Getty
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