A diver was taken to the hospital following an encounter with a great white shark in Percé, Quebec, in the Gaspé region. The incident occurred just before 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, as reported by the Canadian Coast Guard.
Plongée Percé, a commercial diving company, stated in a Facebook post that emergency response procedures were promptly initiated. The injured individual received initial medical attention at the scene before being swiftly transported to the hospital for further assessment. It was confirmed that the person’s life was not at risk.
The victim was on board the Yoda vessel, a Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary dive boat. The Canadian Coast Guard mentioned that as of Wednesday afternoon, they were not able to provide details on the extent of the victim’s injuries.
Kevin Dubé, a boat captain who witnessed the incident, described receiving a distress call about the diver. The injured diver was brought ashore in a small boat, with ambulances already present to quickly transport the individual to the hospital.
Plongée Percé expressed gratitude to those involved in the rescue operation and announced the suspension of diving activities for the remainder of the season.
In recent months, there has been a rise in sightings of great white sharks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, near the Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands. Ocearch, a global non-profit organization tracking sharks, has identified four sharks – Webster, Ernst, Bella, and Nori – in these waters. Notably, Webster, a 12-foot shark weighing over 1,000 pounds, was sighted near Newfoundland and Labrador, indicating a positive shift in the ocean’s health according to Ocearch.
The founder of Ocearch, Chris Fischer, highlighted that efforts to protect the remaining global population of great white sharks have been successful after a significant decline in numbers from the 1970s to the 1990s. He noted that the presence of sharks benefits local fisheries by controlling seal populations, thereby safeguarding fish stocks.
Marine biologist Caroline Miri emphasized the vital role that sharks play in maintaining marine ecosystems by regulating invasive species and other fish populations. Ocearch has tagged approximately 115 sharks in the Atlantic region, spanning from Florida to Newfoundland and Labrador.
The St. Lawrence Shark Observatory attributed the increased sightings of great white sharks to improved documentation and the recovery of the species, previously endangered in Canadian waters. These sharks are attracted to areas with abundant grey seal populations, such as the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Canadian Atlantic.
Sandra Gauthier, from the Exploramer science museum, noted that encounters like the one in Percé were foreseeable given the rising shark numbers in the gulf. She suggested that while encountering sharks in their habitat poses risks, there is no cause for alarm, drawing attention to the global rarity of shark attacks.
The Canadian Shark Attack Registry has documented 15 confirmed shark-related incidents in Canada over more than 330 years, indicating a low frequency of such incidents in the country.