Her name is Bella, she weighs at least 730 pounds and apparently spends her summers in the waters of Atlantic Canada.
The 10-foot juvenile great white shark was tracked July 4 as it moved through the Gulf of St. Lawrence near the Magdalene Islands in Quebec, according to Florida-based shark tracking website OCEARCH.
When she appeared off the east coast of Prince Edward Island on June 29, Bella was the first documented great white shark, also known as a great white shark, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the 2026 season, the St. Lawrence Shark Observatory notes.
Bella was first spotted last summer in Mahone Bay, North Carolina, and then moved south to the Gulf of Mexico for the winter. Over the past month, the shark has traveled north from the waters of Cape Cod, through the Gulf of Maine, around the southern shore of Nova Scotia, north of Prince Edward Island and most recently through the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
But if reading about Bella’s summer vacation makes you worried about great white sharks in Canadian waters, we’re here to make you feel, well, maybe even worse. Because researchers say that while a number of factors are contributing to the increase in white shark sightings in recent years, it is also completely normal and expected shark behavior.
Bella’s presence should not be interpreted as an “unusual event,” the St. Lawrence Shark Observatory warned in a press release, adding that this first sighting primarily serves as a reminder that white sharks “are now regular seasonal visitors.”
“White sharks have been using Atlantic Canadian waters for thousands of years – it’s part of their natural geographic range,” OCEARCH data scientist John Tyminski told CBC News.
Bella was spotted in Mahone Bay, North Carolina in July 2025. At that time, she was 10 feet two inches tall and weighed about 730 pounds. (OKIS)
The white shark population declined greatly from the 1960s to the early 1990s due to unregulated fishing practices, Tyminski explained, until protective measures reduced their catch. At the same time, the population of seals, an important food source for white sharks, has rebounded in Atlantic Canada.
“We are now seeing signs of white shark recovery and generally a return to abundance in the ocean,” Tyminski said.
“This is a remarkable success story because apex predators like white sharks are vital to healthy and balanced oceans.”
Add to this improved satellite tracking technology and “citizen scientists” taking photos and videos on their phones, and it’s no wonder white sharks are on the rise.
WATCH | Swimmer from N.S. at an encounter with a great white shark:
Great white shark spotted off North Carolina beach twice in one week | Hanomansing tonight
Maria McLean-Guy is one of the few swimmers who recently had a close encounter with a great white shark while swimming in Nova Scotia waters. She tells Hanomansing Tonight that the experience, although shocking, did not stop her from continuing to swim in open water.
How common are they?
It’s difficult to estimate how many great white sharks there are in Atlantic Canadian waters, and researchers will need years of data they don’t yet have to make accurate estimates, says Nigel Hussey, an associate professor of biology at the University of Windsor in Ontario.
But we know that between 70 and 90 tagged white sharks pass through Mahone Bay between June and November each year, said Hussey, who is also co-director of the Tancook Islands marine field station that tagged Bella in 2025.
He estimates there are more than 2,000 white sharks in Atlantic Canada each year. Warming ocean temperatures also play a role in the increase in sightings, he added.
“White sharks are certainly present in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and have been tracked throughout the Gulf and up to the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, but I am not aware of any records of sharks in the river yet,” Hussey told CBC News.
According to satellite data he reviewed, Bella was still floating off the Magdalene Islands, where she had been all week, Hussey said.
“People shouldn’t worry because white sharks don’t want to eat people,” Hussey said. “But we need to make sure people know that white sharks are present in our waters – the species is a top predator.”
WATCH | This North Carolina fisherman’s boat was bitten by a great white shark:
#TheMoment Great white shark bites New Zealand fishing boat
Jimmy MacArthur remembers the moment a great white shark bit his fishing boat off the coast of Cape Breton, North Carolina.
He warned people to use common sense when swimming, such as avoiding murky water, not swimming at dawn and dusk, and not swimming where there are seals in the area.
Shark attacks in Canada as a whole are extremely rare, according to the St. Lawrence Observatory’s Canadian Shark Attack Registry. Over the past 330 years, there have been only 15 confirmed attacks, the registry notes, and only one confirmed shark-related human death.
According to the registry, this accident occurred in 1953 when a white shark rammed a fishing boat off the coast of Furchu, North Carolina, and the fisherman drowned.
White shark sightings in Canada
According to OCEARCH, 88 percent of white sharks tagged in the southeastern United States headed to Atlantic Canada. In the past year alone, several noteworthy events have occurred.
In October, the largest male great white shark ever tagged in the western North Atlantic was recorded in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, according to OCEARCH. His name is Challenger and he weighs 1653 pounds.
It was last spotted in April off the coast of North Carolina, but last September it made its way to the Jacques Cartier Channel off the northern shore of Quebec, according to satellite data. He spent the end of October hanging out in the Cape Breton, North Carolina area.
Dalhousie University student Geraldine Fernandez came face to face with a great white shark near Halifax in 2025. (Geraldine Fernandez)
Last summer, divers came face to face with a great white shark near Hubbards, N.S., just one of several sightings in Nova Scotia, including one near Halifax and another off Cape Breton, where a great white shark bit a lobsterman’s boat.
On October 31, a great white shark was found dead off the north coast of Prince Edward Island. While researchers weren’t sure how the shark died and called it disappointing, they also said the shark’s presence near PEI could mean a sign of hope for their Atlantic population.
But this is not just happening in the Atlantic.
A great white shark named Kara was spotted off the coast of Vancouver Island in March, according to researchers tracking it. They said that while Kara was the first great white shark they tagged to be officially recorded this far north, shark sightings in Canadian Pacific waters were not unusual.
There have also been cases of great white sharks washing ashore on Haida Gwaii.
WATCH | Great white found off Vancouver Island in March:
Great white shark found swimming off Vancouver Island
One of the world’s largest ocean predators swam off Vancouver Island. Researchers confirm that a female great white shark named Kara was discovered south of the Pacific Rim National Park sanctuary. It was spotted near California last year, CBC correspondent Claire Palmer reports.