HALIFAX –
Chris Harvey-Clark says a close underwater encounter earlier this year with one of the ocean’s top predators has changed his dive plans for 2022.
On November 9, while the Dalhousie University veterinarian was diving in the waters off Halifax, hoping to see torpedo rays, he was hunted by a great white shark 23 meters below the surface.
In an interview on Friday, the diver recalled how the juvenile shark’s length of two to three meters indicated that the animal was in its most dangerous stage of development, when it stopped focusing on hunting fish and began searching for large mammals. Rather than being intimidated by the bubbles, noise and human lights underwater, the shark seemed curious and appeared to go into stalking mode, the researcher said.
“These days we don’t have much of a chance of being hunted by large predators, but I can tell you that large parts of their brain light up when they are on the receiving end,” he said. The animal passed him three times, he said, adding that it was a clear sign of his interest in him as prey.
Harvey-Clark said the experience changed his approach to diving at the site.
“My willingness to dive into the water in that area from August to November will be reduced,” said Harvey-Clark, who teaches a summer shark course in Dalhousie.
The waters off the Atlantic coast are warming and researchers are reporting more shark sightings. Harvey-Clark suggests that it is reaching a point where it is prudent for frequent divers and ocean students to consider the risks and be aware of their presence.
The North Atlantic tends to be murky and dark – excellent hunting conditions for ambush predators to hunt seals, he explained. “Great whites can discern very subtle shades of gray that you and I can’t see, which means they can see you and you can’t see them in poor visibility.”
He recalled rapidly ascending to the surface, but said that as he approached the boat, he felt a deep, instinctive terror that humans experience when they feel like they are being attacked.
“It was really scary,” he said. “I was just waiting for that scorching crack and for a body part to be taken away.”
Next year, he said he will use remote sensing systems sometimes instead of dives to study torpedo beams, particularly in the summer.
Harvey-Clark, who provides presentations to the Florida-based International Shark Attack Archive, noted that 2021 was also the year of an alleged shark attack involving a 21-year-old Cape Breton woman. She was reportedly bitten off the west coast of Cape Breton in late August.
He said that he requested an interview with the woman to present a report on the attack, but heard through his contacts that she had refused to be interviewed and, as a result, there are no definitive findings on what happened.
“I understand your concern, just seeing a (shark) scared the hell out of me,” he said. “This was the scariest event of my life.”
Harvey-Clark said that while working on a documentary recently about great white sharks, he was amazed at how close the animals were to the coast of Nova Scotia. “They are right there, 30 meters from shore in six meters of water,” he said.
Sightings of great white sharks have increased in recent years. For example, last summer, tourists on a whale-watching boat off Cape Breton captured video of the predator tearing the carcass of a seal.
Fred Whoriskey, CEO of the Ocean Tracking Network in Dalhousie and a research partner at Harvey-Clark, has said there is no scientific consensus on whether the large white population is increasing in the Northwest Atlantic. But he has said there are tentative signs that more animals are entering the region, such as increased sightings of young sharks by scientists and the public.
The species is listed as endangered in both Canada and the United States, which means that harvesting of animals is prohibited, and Whoriskey has said that the restrictions have likely helped the great white population rebound in recent years. decades.
This Canadian Press report was first published on December 24, 2021.
Reference-atlantic.ctvnews.ca