A group of marine research scientists from around the world have recently tagged 16 great white sharks off the coast of Nova Scotia.
Now, they wait.
Their goal: to see what the data reveals about the sharks’ migratory behaviour and to better understand their habitats in Atlantic Canada.
“We can really undertake a very comprehensive assessment and overview of how the population of white sharks are faring in our waters,” said Nigel Hussey, the director of the Tancook Islands Marine Field Station, which led the project.
The field station has been operating for four years. This year, they joined the global non-profit organization, Ocearch, and other marine scientists on the shark tagging project.
Each shark has three types of trackers placed on it. The first type is a satellite tag that generates near-real-time location data, which the public can track on the Ocearch tracker app.
The second type is an archival satellite tag that contains data the general public won’t see.
“We release the animal, and for the next 365 days, that tag will record the depth and temperature of where that animal is every few minutes, and it archives all of that data,” said Hussey.
“Then, after this one-year period, the tag pops off the animal. It floats to the surface, and then it transmits that whole archive of data.”
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The third tag is an acoustic tag that is surgically implanted into the sharks. Receivers are placed on Mahone Bay, N.S., as well as through a network around Atlantic Canada and down the eastern seaboard of the U.S., which means the animals can be tracked for a decade.
“We can track the behaviour of individual animals for that 10-year period, which is a phenomenal data set,” he said.
Hussey says in addition to learning about the migratory range of the sharks, the information from the tags will also help scientists evaluate the animals’ health and better understand their ecosystem.
“There’s no actual management plan put in place for this particular species,” he added.
According to data collected by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, sightings of white sharks in Atlantic Canada are not uncommon.
The federal department also says they have noticed an increase in the presence of white sharks in Canadian waters between 2019 and 2022, as well as an increase in the amount of time they spend here.
A whale-watching tour boat witnessed a great white shark “aggressively” feeding in the Bay of Fundy last month, and a great white shark took a bite out of a man’s stand-up paddle board on the South Shore in August.
“Better understanding (of) their habitat use, the risks that they might encounter as part of using that habitat — both from human use of the area as well as climate-based changes — are all really critical for understanding how the population’s doing,” said Harley Newton, Ocearch’s chief veterinarian.
Newton notes that collecting this data will hopefully influence policy to manage and protect key ecosystems for great white sharks.
“All good policy should be informed by science,” she said.
However, in order to collect enough data, Hussey says they will need to tag hundreds of sharks in Atlantic Canada. For now, he notes the 16 they have tagged will provide invaluable information.
Scientists have even named one of the sharks in honour of the late primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall.
“Ultimately (that shark) now is an observer of her environment and generating data for white sharks and for their own management. So, a sort of very appropriate name for that animal,” he said.
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