10-metre member of 'mysterious' shark species spotted off P.E.I.'s North Shore

Ryan McKellop · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 07, 2025 8:08 PM EDT | Last Updated: July 8

One of the world's second-largest taxon of food was spotted disconnected the North Shore of P.E.I. by a radical of radical returning from a deep-sea sportfishing travel this past week.

Don Gauthier and his household spotted the basking shark conscionable astir a kilometre and fractional offshore near New London Bay and French River, astatine astir 8:30 p.m. connected Thursday.

"My spouse was connected her binoculars, conscionable spotting things out, and she saw a clump of birds conscionable flying astir successful this 1 circumstantial country and spotted immoderate fin," Gauthier told CBC News connected Monday. 

The boat's skipper said it could beryllium immoderate tiny whales, truthful Gauthier pulled retired his telephone to zoom in. He remembers saying: "I don't deliberation those are whales; I deliberation that's a shark." 

When the skipper chopped the boat's engines, the fin started coming toward the vessel.

"That's a basking shark," the skipper said, according to Gauthier. "I haven't seen 1 of those successful years."

Gauthier said the shark approached the boat, moving successful a side-to-side pattern.

"It was astir similar it was entertaining us. It was precise absorbing due to the fact that it — you know, it came up and you would spot it unfastened its rima up. It was feeding, I would assume, and past it would spell backmost down and travel up from the different broadside of the boat. 

"It was conscionable unbelievable. I was truthful amazed astatine the size of it.... I was conscionable wholly stunned."

'A shark trying to beryllium a whale'

Basking sharks are so rather ample creatures, according to Boris Worm, a prof successful marine conservation and biology astatine Dalhousie University successful Halifax.

"They're fundamentally a shark trying to beryllium a whale," Worm said of Cetorhinus maximus.

Gauthier estimated the basking shark his household saw was betwixt 20- and 30-feet long, oregon 7 to 10 metres. Worm said that's a normal-sized specimen, but the sharks tin scope up to 12 metres. 

He added there are nary accounts of a basking shark ever causing harm to humans.

Over the past 30 years, Worm said, determination person been only a fewer sightings disconnected the Island's North Shore successful the Gulf of St. Lawrence. He said basking sharks aren't exceedingly rare, but the taxon does typically aquatics successful deeper waters.

"It's a precise ample fish, it moves precise slowly and it's mysterious," helium said.

"We don't cognize however aged they get, for example. We don't cognize however galore determination are. We don't cognize erstwhile their colonisation is going up oregon down.

"There's a batch of things we would emotion to cognize astir them, but they're conscionable truly hard to track."

Worm said changing clime conditions could impact wherever basking sharks get their food, perchance starring them to waters disconnected the North Shore to pursuit wherever their prey are going. 

He noted a akin displacement in feeding country has already led the endangered North Atlantic close whale to beryllium much communal successful bluish waters specified arsenic those successful Atlantic Canada.  

"It's important that erstwhile you spot this taxon to study these sightings, due to the fact that each sighting helps america to recognize the organisation a small spot better," helium said of the basking shark.

A caller perspective

As for Gauthier, he said helium had mixed feelings astir the July 3 encounter.

"The archetypal feeling was decidedly a small spot of concern, but it passed truly quickly. When the skipper explained to america what we were witnessing, it conscionable turned instantly to conscionable implicit amazement," helium said. "I've ne'er witnessed thing similar this. This was spectacular."

He said being truthful adjacent to the basking shark gave him immoderate caller perspective.

"You recognize however tiny you are successful an situation similar that, connected the water, connected the ocean, and you spot this beauteous creature. I conscionable anticipation radical tin admit the magnitude of it and conscionable beryllium much liable with however we dainty our climate," helium said.

"These creatures — you know, they beryllium connected america successful a way. Like, our actions truly interaction them."