Great white shark washes up on B.C. shore

A great white shark washed up on Haida Gwaii on Thursday, Oct. 10. (Courtesy: Mike Miles/Facebook)

In a rare occurrence, a bona fide great white shark washed up on a B.C. beach this week.

The apex predator was found dead on Haida Gwaii Thursday and a scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada confirmed it to be a Carcharodon carcharias, or great white. The scientist identified the shark species by examining its teeth and the shape of its tail fin.

The animal is male and measures approximately 13.5 feet long, according to the DFO. Examinations revealed the shark had been eating a seal, a common food for great whites. A conservation officer also collected tissue samples from the shark for research purposes.

Great white shark sightings are rare in British Columbia, but not unheard of, a spokesperson for the federal agency told CTV News in an email.

Great whites swim in temperate and subtropical waters around the world, the DFO said. In the Pacific Ocean, the creatures can be found from the Gulf of California up to the Gulf of Alaska.

There have been about six confirmed great white occurrences in the outer coastal waters off B.C., in the Esperanza Inlet (off western Vancouver Island) Hecate Strait (north coast) and Haida Gwaii, the DFO said.

In B.C. the DFO says it receives “many” reports of what people think are great white sharks, but are actually salmon sharks, a close relative. Sixteen species of shark are known to exist in B.C.’s waters, according to the DFO.

“Given climate change, we can expect their occurrences in our waters to increase in frequency in the coming decades,” the spokesperson wrote.

When it comes to shark attacks, swimmers and boaters in B.C. likely need not worry. According to the Canadian Shark Attack Registry, run out of the St. Lawrence Shark Observatory, there have been three confirmed shark attacks in the history of the province—in 1905, 1925 and 1961.

In all three incidents, no one was injured, and in the first two the species of shark remains unknown. In the 1961 occurrence, however, a great white shark off the west coast of Vancouver Island reportedly chomped on a fisherman’s canvas bags before swimming away.