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A great white shark has attacked a diver off Quebec’s Gaspé coast, sending the person to hospital in a rare and startling encounter off Percé.
According to a report by the CBC, the incident happened shortly before 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The Canadian Coast Guard confirmed that a diver aboard the vessel YODA had been bitten by a shark. Paramedics met the vessel when it returned to Percé.
Read more: A nearly 9-foot white shark is closing in on Baie-Comeau
Plongée Percé, the local diving centre involved in the incident, said emergency response measures were activated immediately. The diver received first aid at the scene before being transported to hospital for further evaluation.
Are there great white sharks in Canadian waters?
The incident has sent a shock through one of Quebec’s best-known diving destinations—and comes as great white shark sightings and detections have become increasingly common in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and across Atlantic Canada.
Check out: The Gulf of St. Lawrence is now home to six tracked sharks
As a precaution, Plongée Percé has suspended all diving activities for the remainder of the season.
The attack comes amid a growing number of great white shark sightings in and around the Gulf of St. Lawrence, including off Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands.
What month are sharks most active?
Shark activity changes throughout the year, depending on the region. According to data from the OCEARCH Global Tracker, great white sharks are most active in northern feeding grounds such as Cape Cod during August, September and October, before moving toward southern winter habitats like the Gulf of Mexico from January to April.
Curious about where sharks are right now? Explore the OCEARCH Global Tracker here to follow their movements in real time.
Several great whites have been tracked in the region by OCEARCH, a global nonprofit research organization that studies sharks. The recent increase in sightings has drawn attention to the species’ growing presence in Atlantic Canadian waters, although encounters with humans remain exceptionally rare.
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The Canadian Shark Attack Registry contains 30 reported incidents dating back more than three centuries, with only 15 considered confirmed.
The return of great white sharks to these waters is also being viewed through an ecological lens. OCEARCH founder Chris Fischer has previously described increased great white populations as a sign of healthier ocean ecosystems, noting the predators’ role in the marine food chain.
For now, however, the focus in Percé remains on the diver’s recovery—and on what this highly unusual encounter means for diving along Quebec’s Gaspé coast.
For more information about the CBC report, click here.
The photos are provided for illustrative purposes only.
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