Teazer is here! 295-kg shark being tracked off eastern P.E.I.
A 295-kilogram, 3.27-metre-long great white shark that has been dubbed Teazer was tracked off the coast of P.E.I. Wednesday evening.
The shark is being watched by Ocearch, a non-profit research organization that generates tracking data and does biological studies for large predators like great whites.
The shark was first detected in the Northumberland Strait at 5:50 p.m. AT on Wednesday near the most southeastern tip of the province. After that, it headed north, pinging off the coast of Souris at 11:24 p.m.
Teazer was tagged in Lunenburg, N.S. in October. Since then, it has travelled the Eastern Seaboard, going as far south as Florida before returning to the Maritime region.
In September, another great white shark Ocearch calls Brunswick was also pinging off P.E.I. At that time, Ocearch expedition leader Chris Fisher told CBC News there was nothing to fear.
"There's a big white shark puzzle up here in Atlantic Canada… I think people just thought there was the odd shark coming through the area randomly, but there's a whole system of white sharks up here now," said Fisher.
"We're really just starting to get our heads around the tip of the iceberg. If you live in Canada and you swim, you've been swimming with white sharks your entire life. It's something that is talked about only because of the movies. The odds of a shark incident are like over one in 10 million."
According to Ocearch's tracking map, Brunswick also pinged in the strait last week. At the time, it was off the coast of P.E.I., between Roseville on the Island and Kouchibouguac National Park in New Brunswick.
Ocearch is tracking the sharks to find out more about their feeding and mating habits.
Thumbnail courtesy of R. Snow/OCEARCH.
The story was originally published on CBC.ca.
