There's a great white shark in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Don't worry

There's a great white shark in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Don't worry — it's normal

The 730-pound shark named Bella was recorded near Quebec's Magdalen Islands

Her name is Bella, she weighs at least 730 pounds, and evidently, she's summering in the waters off Atlantic Canada.

The 10-foot-long juvenile great white shark was tracked on July 4 moving through the Gulf of the St. Lawrence near Quebec's Magdalen Islands, according to shark tracking website OCEARCH, which is based in Florida.

When she popped up off the Eastern Coast of Prince Edward Island on June 29, Bella was the first documented great white, also known as a white shark, in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence of the 2026 season, notes the St. Lawrence Shark Observatory.

Bella was first tagged last summer in Mahone Bay, N.S., before making her way as far south as the Gulf of Mexico for winter. Over the past month, the shark has travelled north from the waters off Cape Cod, through the Gulf of Maine, around the south shore of Nova Scotia, north of Prince Edward Island, and most recently, the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

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But if reading about Bella's summer vacay is making you anxious about great white sharks in Canada's waters, we're here to make you feel, well, possibly worse, actually. Because researchers say that while a number of factors are contributing to more white shark sightings in recent years, it's also perfectly normal and expected shark behaviour.

Bella's presence shouldn't be interpreted "as an unusual event," cautioned the St. Lawrence Shark Observatory in a news release, adding that this first detection primarily serves as a reminder that white sharks are "now regular seasonal visitors."

"White sharks have been using Atlantic Canada waters for thousands of years — it is part of their natural geographic range," OCEARCH's data scientist John Tyminski told CBC News in a written statement.

White shark populations were greatly depleted from the 1960s through to the early 1990s due to unregulated fishing practices, Tyminski explained, until protective measures reduced them being harvested. At the same time, seal populations — an important food source for white sharks — have rebounded in Atlantic Canada.

"We're now seeing signs of the white shark's recovery and, in general, a return to ocean abundance," Tyminski said.

"This is a wonderful success story as apex predators like white sharks are vital to having healthy, balanced oceans."

Throw in improved satellite tracking technology — and "citizen scientists" taking photos and videos on their phones — and Tyminski says it's little wonder more white sharks are being spotted.

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It's very difficult to estimate how many great white sharks are in Atlantic Canada waters, and researchers would need years of data they don't yet have to make an accurate calculation, says Nigel Hussey, an associate professor of biology at the University of Windsor in Ontario.

But we know about 70-to-90 tagged white sharks pass through Mahone Bay between June and November each year, said Hussey, who is also the co-director of the Tancook Islands Marine Field Station that tagged Bella in 2025.

His best guess is there are likely more than 2,000 white sharks per year in Atlantic Canada. Warming ocean temperatures are also playing a role in more sightings, he added.

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"White sharks are certainly present in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and have been tracked moving throughout the Gulf and over to the entrance area of the St Lawrence river, but I am not aware of any records of sharks actually in the river yet," Hussey told CBC News.

According to satellite data he's viewed, Bella is still swimming around off the Magdalen Islands, where she's been all week, Hussey said.

"People should not be concerned as white sharks do not wish to eat people," Hussey said. "But we do need to ensure people are aware that white sharks are present in our waters — this species is a large predator."

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He cautioned people to use common sense when swimming, such as avoiding murky waters, not swimming at dawn and dusk, and don't swim where there are seals in the area.

Shark attacks in general are extremely rare in Canada, according to the St. Lawrence Shark Observatory's Canadian Shark Attack Registry. There are just 15 confirmed attacks over the past 330 years, notes the registry, and only one confirmed shark-related human death.

That fatality happened in 1953, according to the registry, when a white shark rammed a fishing boat off the coast of Fourchu, N.S., and a fisherman drowned.

According to OCEARCH, 88 per cent of white sharks tagged in the U.S. southeast have journeyed to Atlantic Canada. There have been some newsworthy sightings over the past year alone.

In October, for instance, the largest male great white shark ever tagged in the western North Atlantic was recorded in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, according to OCEARCH. His name is Contender, and he weighs 1,653 pounds.

He was last located in April off the coast of North Carolina, but last September he made it as far north as the Jacques Cartier Strait off Quebec's north shore, according to satellite data. He spent late October hanging out around Cape Breton, N.S.

Last summer, scuba divers came face to face with a great white shark near Hubbards, N.S. — just one of several encounters in Nova Scotia, including one near Halifax, and another off Cape Breton, where a great white bit a lobster fisherman's boat.

On Oct. 31, a great white shark was found dead along Prince Edward Island’s North Shore. While researchers weren't sure how the shark died, and called it disappointing, they also said the shark's presence near P.E.I. could mean a sign of hope for their Atlantic population.

But it's also not just happening in the Atlantic.

In March, a great white shark named Kara was recorded off the coast of Vancouver Island, according to researchers who were tracking her. They said that while Kara was the first of their tagged great white sharks officially recorded that far north, it wasn't unusual to have sharks in Canadian Pacific waters.

There have also been incidents of great white sharks washing up on Haida Gwaii.

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Natalie Stechyson has been a writer and editor at CBC News since 2021. She covers stories on social trends, families, gender, human interest, as well as general news. She's worked as a journalist since 2009, with stints at the Globe and Mail and Postmedia News, among others. Before joining CBC News, she was the parents editor at HuffPost Canada, where she won a silver Canadian Online Publishing Award for her work on pregnancy loss. You can reach her at natalie.stechyson@cbc.ca.