‘Scary Experience’: Great White Shark Encounters in Canadian Waters a Growing Trend

A great white shark known as Jamison that frequents the waters around Cape Cod is shown in a handout photo. (The Canadian Press/HO - Massachusetts Shark Research Program, Atlantic White Shark Conservancy)

It was past noon, and the water was unusually warm for an autumn day. Chris Harvey-Clark was diving off the coast of Nova Scotia. The water was murky and visibility was poor. Unable to see much, he decided to turn back to his anchor line and call it a day. That’s when he saw a large shark tail disappear into the haze.

Mr. Harvey-Clark is marine-life researcher with a keen interest in sharks, so he knew instantly it was a great white. His heart began pounding. He remembered having seen a fatally wounded seal at a nearby colony weeks earlier, and it dawned on him: warm water, nearby prey—the perfect conditions for shark hunting grounds.

And with poor visibility, he could be mistaken for a seal.

He swam for safety, but as he did, he came face-to-face with the shark—an 11-foot-long female, he reckons.

“She went by very, very slowly and gave me the eyeballs,” Mr. Harvey-Clark, who works as a veterinarian at Dalhousie University, told The Epoch Times. “It was a fairly scary experience to have. One pass is one thing, but when the shark comes back repeatedly, that shark is quite interested.”

It took him a few minutes to reach safety, “some of the longest minutes of my life,” he said.

That was in 2021, and since then, several shark encounters have been reported off Canada’s east coast as the number of sharks in the region has grown.

“I’ve been diving in these waters for 40 years, and I’ve never seen a shark inshore before,” said Mr. Harvey-Clark. “All of a sudden, multiple divers are reporting multiple sharks, all of them great whites.”

Recent Encounters

Mr. Harvey-Clark said that in the two years following his encounter, he recorded six other white shark encounters by divers near Halifax.

Only one person has been reported to be injured by a white shark in recent years. The victim was a woman bitten on the thigh on Aug. 13, 2021, in Margaree Island, Nova Scotia, according to the Canadian Shark Attack Registry. The organization suspects the woman was swimming in a feeding area, and attracted a shark that mistook her for a prey competitor or a seal.

“The thing with a white shark is, even if they’re just doing a little tentative bite to check out what you are, not a full on predation, it’s still like touching a moving chainsaw blade,” said Mr. Harvey-Clark.

“Their teeth are so sharp, and there’s so many of them, that even a gentle bite causes massive trauma, which apparently this young woman did suffer ... over 100 stitches in her legs.”

A second shark attack killed a dog in Nova Scotia on Oct. 18, 2023, according to Canadian Shark Attack Registry records. This was the first attack on a pet in Canada, the organization says, suspecting it happened because the dog was retrieving a duck from the ocean and there was blood in the water.

Possible Causes

Mr. Harvey-Clark said the increase in shark encounters is due to a combination of factors. One is that seal populations, particularly harp seals, are at historic highs, and the abundance of such prey can attract predators.

The increase in seal populations is largely due to restrictions imposed several years ago on the seal hunt, particularly in Newfoundland and Labrador. Anti-sealing campaigns were famously led by Paul and Linda McCartney and echoed by organizations like Greenpeace.

Since then, the Canadian seal harvesting industry has been subject to import bans by trading countries, including the United States and the European Union. Seal numbers have risen, with approximately 7.6 million harp seals in the Northwest Atlantic by 2019, according to government estimates, and 366,400 grey seals by 2021, as estimated by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

A May 2024 Canadian Senate report urged for an increase in the seal harvest. The report examined impacts of the booming seal population on the ecosystem and the social and economic impacts of current restrictions on the hunt. The report said the hunt is “humane and well regulated.” 

The population of great white sharks has also risen due to restrictions on hunting them, Mr. Harvey-Clark said. In 1997, they became a protected species in U.S. waters, making it illegal to kill, harm, or capture them. Canada adopted similar measures in 2011, after listing white sharks as endangered under the Species at Risk Act.

“So now we’re seeing two things happen at the same time,” Mr. Harvey-Clark said, referring to the surge of both animal groups. He added that since white sharks take about 25 years to reach maturity, those making an appearance may be the juveniles and subadults born since they became a protected species.

Great Whites

The great white shark is the world’s largest predatory fish, reaching up to 21 feet in length and weighing up to 4,500 pounds. They can be found in temperate and tropical waters, either by coastlines or offshore.

White sharks grow slowly, with males becoming mature at around 26 years of age, and females at 33. They can live over 70 years, according to estimates.

Great whites are one of the most well-known shark species, mainly due to the 1975 American thriller film “Jaws,” which gave them their man-eating reputation. But their diet is very varied, and it rarely includes humans.

“White sharks are primarily fish eaters until they get up to about 10 feet,” said Mr. Harvey-Clark. “Then, they shift their diet and their teeth actually change shape. They become mammal predators, but they continue to eat fish and other things through their whole lives.”

Juvenile sharks feed mainly on bottom fish, smaller sharks, and schools of fish and squid. Adult sharks usually feast on marine mammals such as seals, dolphins, sea lions, and whales.

“It’s clear that they’re not targeting humans or there wouldn’t be anybody left anywhere in the ocean because they’re extremely effective predators,” Mr. Harvey-Clark said. He added that many of the cases of white shark attacks on humans are most likely due to the predator mistaking humans for seals or other mammals.

Sharks have a large number of rod cells in their eyes, which allow them to distinguish objects in low light. Because they hunt by swimming below their prey, they rely on the silhouettes created by light on the surface to identify their targets.

Mr. Harvey-Clark said many sharks are “quite sneaky.”

“They’re very good at getting in your six o'clock position behind you and then following you around,” he said, adding that, when filming underwater, he now uses two rear-view mirrors on his camera system to get a 360-degree view of his surroundings. “I’ve had a number of shark surprises that way over the years,” he said.

‘Sharing the Ocean’ With Large Predators

While great white sharks are often associated with places like South Africa, the United States, and Australia, where their populations are denser and sightings more frequent, the presence of these predators near the Canadian coast is unprecedented.

“Lots of seals, increasing population of white sharks, lots of juvenile white sharks—it all adds up to something new that we haven’t dealt with before in these waters, which is sharing the ocean with a large predator and how you go about doing that,” said Mr. Harvey-Clark.

He says that although some people are worried and fear the unknown, extreme measures are not needed—just common sense.

“You don’t stop hiking because you know there are bears around, but you do certain things and you avoid them,” he said. “The same with sharks in the ocean. They’ve always been there.”

He recommends avoiding places with a high concentration of seals or where predation is evident. He also says it is best to avoid swimming at dawn or dusk, as these are key times for hunting. As for swimming attire, bright colours may be better than black.

“We do look an awful lot like a seal in a black wetsuit, silhouetted against the surface,” said Mr. Harvey-Clark. “The big thing is not to lay the table for them. In other words, try not to look like a seal.”