What to expect from shark cage diving expeditions off Nova Scotia

The president of Atlantic Sharks Expeditions talks about recent shark sightings in the Maritimes.

If you’re looking for something exciting to do this summer, one Maritime company continues to offer shark viewing and cage diving experiences in the Halifax area.

Neil Hammerschlag, the president of Atlantic Shark Expeditions, says the experience of seeing the animals in their natural environment changes how people see them.

“They’re so gorgeous, it generates an appreciation for them and that’s particularly important at this time because in many places of the world shark numbers are declining, they’re being overfished, they’ve been hunted,” he told CTV Morning Live’s Crystal Garrett.

“Luckily they’re protected in Nova Scotia and we’re seeing healthy numbers and seeing healthy numbers of sharks means a healthy ecosystem, so it’s great that people get to see them, experience them and want to preserve them.”

Hammerschlag says people have seen “quite a few” sharks on the expeditions already this season.

“You join our boat, you get a really cool briefing about what our mission is for the day, we head out for a special location where we have success in seeing sharks based on their preferred environmental conditions, we lower a protective shark cage in the water that’s secured to the boat,” he says.

“The top is just out of the surface and you get a hose with (surface-supplied air), we give you all the equipment, you get in the cage and we bring the sharks to the cage and we collect scientific data to monitor the populations of sharks, but at the same time everyone gets to see the sharks, take photos, and just experience them.”

How the animals interact with people depends on the individual shark.

“Some sharks kind of come by and just do a drive by, other ones are very curious about what the cage is and they stick around and will start investigating it,” says Hammerschlag.

The most common species seen off Nova Scotia are blue sharks.

“Which are these amazing, curious, sleek animals. We also get porbeagle sharks, the shortfin mako shark, which is among the fastest of ocean species, and then we get the great white shark, and these are species we’ve seen already this year, in the last week,” Hammerschlag says.

However, the marine ecologist says the misconception continues that sharks are blood thirsty animals.

“That’s not reality at all. When you come out with us, you’ll see these sharks are calm, they’re actually very cautious and they don’t eat a lot, so a lot of times the reason we can interact with them is just based on their own curiosity, it has nothing to do with food.”

Atlantic Shark Expeditions’ cage diving experiences off Halifax run until Sept. 4. The fall season in Yarmouth begins Sept. 12.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page