Four of the sharks tagged during OCEARCH’s Nova Scotia Expedition in 2018 — Luna, a 15-foot female; Cabot, a 9-ft, 8-in male; Hal, a 12-ft, 6-in male, and Jane, a 10-foot female –have already returned to Shelburne and Yarmouth Counties as of this week.
Their return to the Canadian province is more evidence that Canada plays a more important role in the life history of white sharks in the Northwest Atlantic than previously believed.
“We’re seeing our understanding of the importance of Canada’s Maritimes for the Northwest Atlantic white shark population explode right before our eyes,” says Dr. Robert Hueter, OCEARCH’s Chief Science Advisor and Director of the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory. “White sharks are designated as endangered in Atlantic Canada waters, but that’s been largely due to a lack of observations and scientific data. Day by day the data grows, telling us that Nova Scotia is a summertime home for white sharks.”
Satellite SPOT tags will continue to monitor the sharks’ movements each time they come to the surface long enough for the tracking devices on their dorsal fins to send a message to a satellite. The tracking data can be used to help identify the species’s critical habitats such as mating sites, foraging areas and pupping grounds.
You can follow the OCEARCH tagged sharks like Hal and Cabot by accessing the near-real time, free online Global Shark Tracker, or by downloading the Global Shark Tracker App available for Apple and Android platforms. You can also follow all the latest OCEARCH-related news from Sharkophile here.