Canada

QUEENSLAND - Swimmers at a busy Nova Scotia beach were forced out of the water for two hours after a fin was spotted offshore.

The director of the Nova Scotia Lifeguard Service says a fin — possibly of a shark — was spotted in the swimmer's area of Queensland beach, about 50 kilometres west of Halifax.

Paul D'Eon says the lifeguard service has no way to confirm there was a shark, but says when a fin is spotted close to the beach the policy is to order swimmers out of the water.

The veteran lifeguard manager says the potential shark sighting was the first this season at any of the province's 21 ocean beaches, where lifeguards have been on duty for the past five days.

D'Eon says that last year there were three or four sightings of fins over the summer.

The director says that in his 51-year career there's never been a shark attack at one of the beaches while lifeguards were on duty.