There’s been some confusion over the years whether or not a great white shark was caught off Ucluelet in 2005.  Specifically, it’s this image, of what appears to be a large great white, dead and hoisted above the wharf.  Go here to see one of the many posts regarding this rumour.

Anyway, while it appears to be a great white, it’s actually a mako shark, which look similar and are closely related, but it’s not JAWS.  The harbour isn’t Ucluelet either.  Rather, it’s Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  Tanya Dowdall, a park ranger at Pacific Rim National Park points out that the area code (902) on the boom in the background of the picture gives it away.  And as she also comments, it’s a sad story how this shark died.  The mako shark is a magnificent creature that can leap right out of the water.  Only a privileged few have seen the mako – the world’s fastest swimmer – in its natural environment.  It’s also critically endangered.  So why kill it?  Sheer f*#%ing stupidity.

So to answer a question that pops up from time to time.  Are there great white sharks off Tofino (and Vancouver Island)?  Actually, there are.  But  they’re very, very rare.  There’s photographic evidence of juvenile great white shark bites at the BC Shark Reports blog (where Tanya Dowdall sometimes contributes).  To my knowledge this is the only proof of great whites off Vancouver Island, although I’ve heard that surfers and fishermen occasionally see them far off shore.  The great whites that do swim this way are usually juveniles, and the theory is they learn the art of stealth and hunting when they’re this far north.

I should emphasize though that great whites in Canadian waters are very, very rare, and if you actually saw one, you’d be in very select company, as there have been less than five confirmed sightings of great whites off Vancouver Island in 50 years.  We do get the odd salmon shark, but its sexy cousin, the great white, is pretty darn elusive.

And I’ve said this a thousand times. GREAT WHITE SHARKS DON’T EAT PEOPLE.  In the few occasions when they have taken a swimmer or surfer, it’s a case of mistaken identity (a surfer looks very much like an elephant seal from below), and they swim away.  But when this happens, the media jumps all over it and demonizes sharks, and the authorities and “do-gooders” with an IQ below 75 slaughter the sharks (to the point that some species are down 90%).

Sorry, I’m done preaching for the day.  Are there great white sharks off Tofino?  On a very few special occasions, but the way they’re being killed, our generation could be the last to see one, if at all.  Unless we do something to protect them.

A very good read in the Vancouver Sun this week, in a five-part series about sharks in Canadian waters. Several years back, researchers were surprised to find a ‘hot-spot’ of over 10,000 sharks off the Queen Charlottes. According to researchers, many of the sharks were blue sharks, and over 28 different species of sharks swim Canadian waters, including blue sharks, salmon sharks, and of course my personal favourite, the great white (very rare in BC). That’s the cool news. The downer is that sharks are generally few and far between, not just in Canada, but world-wide, with some species decimated by over 90 per cent in the past 20 years. That sucks. Check out the series, and Sharktruth.com, for the issues facing the ocean’s top predators, and why losing sharks is devestating to the planet, and to humanity.

I guess you can tell that I like sharks?

Relax, they’re not great whites.  Even if they were, you’d have a greater chance of witnessing the Vancouver Canucks hoist the Stanley Cup in your lifetime than be attacked by a shark (I’m a Canucks fan, albeit a jaded and disillusioned one, I guess it shows huh?).  These are salmon sharks, and they’re not uncommon off the coast of British Columbia.

This video shows a juvenile salmon shark stranded on Chesterman Beach.  Surfers and beachcombers have reported the little guys beach themselves in Pacific Rim National Park sometimes.  While it remains unclear why this happens, this video has a happy ending.  A kind-hearted couple happened upon the little shark and took her (it appears to be a female) to another side of the beach.  After trying to revive her in the water for 15 minutes, the shark came to, and slowly came back to life in the bay, before (hopefully!) swimming back to sea.  The video is over seven minutes long, but it’s really heart-warming to see the little shark come back to life after certain death.  Anyone who knows me personally knows that I’m a huge shark freak.  I learned of this encounter at the BC Shark and Skate Reports blog.  Very cool indeed!