Shark Below Zero (2023) Movie Script
NEWSCASTER: Shock and horror
in a picturesque part
of western Cape Breton tonight.
NARRATOR: August 2021
and Canada is rocked by news
of a shark attack.
NEWSCASTER: A 21-year-old woman
from Cape Breton
was airlifted to hospital
after an apparent shark attack.
NARRATOR: It's the first
confirmed shark bite
in Canadian waters
in over 150 years.
And just the latest in a number
of mysterious shark sightings
being reported right across
Canada's Eastern Seaboard.
MAN: Oh, no!
NARRATOR: Is the Atlantic's
most formidable hunter
heading north?
GREG SKOMAL: Have you ever
been here before?
MEGAN WINTON:
To Nova Scotia? No, no, you?
GREG: No. Never been here.
NARRATOR: It's winter
in Cape Breton,
and the shark behind the attack
has long since departed.
GREG: This is pretty cool
up here, huh?
MEGAN: I mean, it's the dead
of winter here right now,
it looks like.
I feel like I'm at
the North Pole.
NARRATOR: Now, shark experts
Megan Winton and Greg Skomal
comb the coastline
looking for clues.
GREG: Unprovoked attacks
on humans
are extremely rare events,
and in particular this far
north, almost unheard of.
There's really just
a handful of species
that come here
in the summertime.
You know, you've got
the basking shark,
it eats plankton, you know.
Forget that, right?
You got porbeagles,
which tend to be much smaller,
very rarely, if ever,
implicated in attacks on people.
You got blue sharks.
Yeah, they're relatively
abundant in the summertime,
but still they're
not a dangerous shark.
So in my mind, it really
just leaves one culprit,
and that's the, that's
the great white shark.
NARRATOR: White sharks have
traditionally been seen
as rare visitors
to Canadian waters.
Up until 2006, there had been
just 32 recorded sightings.
But in recent years, there have
been more and more reports
of white sharks heading north.
GREG: What are these
white sharks doing here?
What's drawing them
this far north?
Those are the kinds of questions
we're trying to answer.
NARRATOR: Greg and Megan's goal
is to put a camera tag
on a white shark in Canadian
waters for the very first time.
If they can tag one,
they may be able to learn
why more sharks appear
to be moving north.
MEGAN: Oh.
GREG: Man, this is wild
out here.
It's deep water between us
and that island.
NARRATOR: Off the island
of Margaree,
Megan uses a drone to survey
the attack site.
MEGAN: Oh, wow, look at that.
Just beyond the snow, there's
a bunch of seals. You see 'em?
GREG: Yeah.
Look at those,
gray seals, right?
MEGAN: I think so, yeah.
Look at 'em.
Big slobs,
little pockets of them.
GREG: Yeah.
MEGAN: A lot of them.
It's crazy deep, dark water.
GREG: Yeah, it looks like
it drops right off,
right at the shoreline there.
MEGAN: Perfect place
for them to hunt.
The seals wouldn't see 'em
coming at all here.
NARRATOR: Ambush hunters,
white sharks like
to surprise their prey.
Hanging in the deep,
their gray backs blend
into the background,
making them difficult for seals
to spot from the surface.
Their eyes are highly sensitive
to contrasts between
light and dark.
Seals or swimmers silhouetted
against the surface
would stand out
in vivid relief.
GREG: I can't say with
100% certainty that this is,
you know, an incident created
by a white shark,
but I'm, I'm very confident
that it was.
It's just a lot of evidence.
There's plenty of seals here.
The habitat is ideal
for white sharks.
We've got an eyewitness account.
They saw a dark fin.
You know, as far as
I'm concerned,
this was a white shark attack.
And because
it made a bad decision,
it's likely it was a juvenile
shark, an inexperienced shark.
NARRATOR: Megan and Greg
now believe they know
what type of shark
was responsible
for the Canadian attack.
But there are no signs
of white sharks to tag
in this near-freezing water.
Every year, white sharks
undertake huge migrations
in the North Atlantic.
It's February,
and at this time of year,
the relatively warm waters
of South Carolina
are a favorite
winter destination.
To catch up with the sharks,
Greg and Megan are nearly
1,500 miles south
in the town of Hilton Head.
MEGAN: It's nice to be warm.
GREG: Yeah. This is sweet.
Well, I'm psyched to get
out on the water here.
NARRATOR: Greg and Megan's
mission here
is to catch and tag
as many sharks as they can find
and follow them north.
The data could point them
to where the white sharks
are traveling to
in Canada and why.
To help find them...
MEGAN: Hey, Chip!
GREG: Hey, Chip.
NARRATOR: ...Greg and Megan
team up with Chip Michalove,
who's been tagging sharks
for Greg's Atlantic white shark
study for the last six years.
GREG: Good to see you.
NARRATOR: Chip leads the team
60 miles offshore
where the continental shelf
slips away
to depths of over 300 feet.
The deep water here
is the perfect place
for white sharks to ambush prey
like dolphins.
But the depth makes it
difficult to tag.
The only way to lure one up
is using a baited hook.
GREG: What the hell happens
when we hook up?
CHIP: Oh, my gosh,
the adrenaline rush,
through the roof.
I'll tell you one thing, you
sleep really good that night.
MEGAN: Oh, my gosh.
GREG: Well, I want to sleep
really good tonight,
which means I really want
to get one of these fish.
CHIP: Yeah.
NARRATOR: As Chip prepares
a white shark favorite
of tuna heads,
Megan readies two tags.
MEGAN: So this is
an acoustic transmitter.
This is a tag that will ping
every minute or so.
And whenever a shark swims past
an acoustic receiver,
which line the whole coast of
the US and Canadian Atlantic,
we'll get a date and timestamp
of when that shark was there.
NARRATOR: The second device
is a satellite tag.
MEGAN: This logs light level
information, temperature,
and depth data for a year.
And so we'll use this tag
to figure out
the broad scale movements
of that animal
over the course of the year.
So together,
this packs a huge punch.
NARRATOR: All they need now
is a shark.
MEGAN: The dorsal just...
GREG: Oh, yeah, see the dorsal?
Dorsal's up.
CHIP: You guys ready for this?
GREG: Where is it? Where is it?
MEGAN: It's right, right here.
CHIP: Right behind the boat,
right here.
MEGAN: Oh, my god,
this is amazing.
NARRATOR: Drawing a white shark
in is one thing,
but will it take the bait?
MEGAN: They're coming in, coming
in, coming in towards the bait.
GREG: Coming to the bait.
Coming to the bait.
Ooh, shaking his head.
Shaking his head.
I've reeled in a lot
of big fish in my life,
big tunas, couple of marlin.
And this, this is different.
Feels like I'm trying
to stop a truck.
Oh, look at that fish.
Wow.
That's no small fish.
MEGAN: Yeah. Yeah.
CHIP: Alright. Meg, off you go.
GREG: Oh, my god.
MEGAN: I can't--
CHIP: Game on! Game on!
GREG: You can do it, Meg.
MEGAN: Oh, my god.
NARRATOR: At nine feet long,
it's a juvenile female.
A perfect candidate
for Megan's tag.
CHIP: Yeah!
GREG: Yes!
CHIP: Yeah ha ha! Nice!
Nice work! Yeah!
NARRATOR: Tag on, the shark
they've named Reese
is the 283rd individual
to join the biggest study
of white sharks
in the Atlantic.
While her satellite tag will
detach in a year's time,
the small acoustic pinger will
continue to track her movements
for another 10 years.
Where Reese heads in the coming
months will help Greg and Megan
build a unique picture
of the movements
of Atlantic white sharks,
and if shark Reese has
a preference for Canada.
Over the next few weeks, Chip
tags seven more white sharks,
bringing the total number
of Carolina sharks
tagged this winter to eight.
Over the next three months,
all eight head north.
A network of thousands
of listening stations
log the signal from their tags.
As the sharks move north,
they head towards cooler water.
White sharks are the members
of an elite family
of five shark species
known as the lamnids.
While most sharks
are cold-blooded,
lamnids have evolved the
ability to keep their bodies
warmer than
the surrounding water.
They can capture the heat
they generate as they swim
and keep it in their bodies
through specialized
blood vessels.
It's a superpower that allows
them to thrive in waters
off limits to most of
their cold-blooded cousins.
By June, sharks Josiah
and Barnacle Ben
reach Cape Cod, Massachusetts,
the white shark capital
of the Atlantic.
Every year, hundreds
of white sharks gather
to feed on the huge
seal colonies
that pepper the coastline here.
(seals barking)
GREG: Seals are constantly
coming and going, you know,
but estimates have been
anywhere up to 50,000 seals
in that region
during the summertime.
So it makes sense that
a lot of white sharks
will come to Cape Cod.
NARRATOR: Greg has spent
the last decade
studying great whites
in these waters.
He's discovered they like
to hunt close to shore
in water as shallow
as a few feet.
SPOTTER: Hey, John,
I got one down here,
north end of Monomoy,
I'm circling now.
NARRATOR: Tagging sharks
is much easier here.
The water is so shallow,
Greg uses eyes in the sky
to spot the sharks
from the air.
There's no need for a hook.
SPOTTER: So, it's 10:30
and a boat and a half,
you'll probably see 'em.
GREG: He's on the port side.
CHIP: Alright,
let's get ready here.
GREG: Yeah!
CHIP: Yeah!
GREG: That's how it's done!
NARRATOR: By the end of July,
12 more sharks are tagged,
bringing the total in the
Atlantic white shark database
to 560.
But despite
the almost limitless
amount of seals on offer,
several tagged sharks choose to
leave the Cape and head north.
They're soon joined
by shark Reese
and her fellow South Carolina
sharks Pavel, Sicklefin,
and Eddie, who bypassed
Cape Cod altogether
on their way up towards
the Canadian border.
To find out what's
drawing them to Canada,
Greg and Megan follow the
sharks back over the border.
Their mission remains
to find a white shark
and deploy the first-ever
camera tag
on the back of one
in Canadian waters.
GREG: Canada's gonna be
a lot different
from what Megan and I
are used to.
You know, we go to Cape Cod.
It's a fairly small area,
shallow water,
lots of white sharks.
Up here, much different.
You know, lots of space.
Finding them is gonna be
pretty tricky.
NARRATOR: Their first
destination
is the southern tip of
the Nova Scotian Peninsula.
Some 300 miles south of the
suspected white shark attack.
Last year over 20 different
white sharks were detected
on the listening stations
in the area.
And local fishermen
also report
an increase in sightings here.
ONLOOKER: Oh, no!
(seals barking)
HEATHER BOWLBY:
Welcome to Nova Scotia!
GREG: Finally. A little chilly.
HEATHER: How was the drive up?
NARRATOR: At the small harbor
of Wedgeport,
Greg and Megan meet
Canadian shark experts
Heather Bowlby
and Warren Joyce.
GREG: Awesome, awesome.
You got a spot for us to go?
WARREN JOYCE: I think so, yeah.
GREG: Let's give it a shot.
WARREN: Yeah.
HEATHER: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Heather and Warren
have been investigating
Canadian white shark sightings
for over five years.
HEATHER: We're really excited
that Greg and Megan
were able to come up this year.
We only know snippets
about white sharks in Canada.
We're still trying to work out
why they're here,
what they're doing
while they're here,
and the places
that they frequent.
So it's an open field.
There's, there's
a lot to answer.
NARRATOR: As they head out,
Warren and the skipper,
Eric Jacquard,
decide where to start
their hunt.
ERIC JACQUARD: We've had
reports on sightings
the last couple weeks,
and then we've seen,
actually seen the fish,
Saturday and Sunday here...
WARREN: Right.
ERIC: ...ourselves,
so, so they're around.
WARREN: They're around. Okay.
Well, let's hope we,
let's hope we get one today.
ERIC: That's right. Copy, copy.
We've all seen great whites
in the area.
One of our friends was traveling
from, from the island to home,
and, uh, he did, he did see
an actual seal bit in half.
And then another friend of ours,
he actually seen the shark
throw the seal up in the air.
There's been a lot of
interesting sightings,
seems to be more and more common
these last few years.
Seems to be a growing,
a growing concern.
NARRATOR: Five miles
from harbor,
Megan preps a brand new kit
that could reveal why
white sharks are here.
MEGAN: So this is my favorite
shark spy tool at the moment.
This tag is outfitted with
a bunch of different sensors
that will tell us exactly
how the shark is moving
and navigating its environment
20 times a second,
which is absolutely
an incredible amount
of information.
The best part about this tag,
though, what I love about it,
is it has a camera in it that
allows us to see what the shark
is doing the whole time
it's on the animal.
It's gonna be a real
game-changer for us
in terms of figuring out how
they use Canadian waters.
NARRATOR: To attach
the new tag,
they need to get within
10 feet of the shark.
But first, they have the huge
challenge of drawing one in.
There's been less than
100 confirmed sightings
in Canada since records began.
To tempt a white shark close,
the team depends on
baited lines.
White sharks have one of
the most sensitive noses
in the ocean.
It's thought
14% of their brains
are dedicated
to processing smells.
Will any pick up the scent?
NARRATOR: 2:00 PM,
and the oils leaching off
the three buoyed bait lines
now create a slick
several miles long.
GREG: The water's super deep.
We can't use a spotter plane
to find them,
because the sharks get down
a few feet and we can't see 'em.
So in order to get 'em,
we got to entice 'em.
Get 'em in tight
so we can tag 'em.
NARRATOR: Minutes
turns into hours,
and there's still no movements
on the buoys.
Then, eight hours
into the operation...
WARREN: Whoa, whoa, whoa,
we got something!
MEGAN: Which one's it on?
WARREN: Number two, number two.
NARRATOR: A white shark
takes the bait.
MEGAN: Yup, there it goes!
Shark right in the middle!
GREG: There it goes,
there it goes. There it goes.
Okay. Alright.
NARRATOR: To find a white shark
on their first day is huge.
Heather and Warren
have only ever tagged
one white shark a year
in Canada.
GREG: Bottom of the ninth.
Two outs.
MEGAN: This is how we roll.
NARRATOR: They now need
to pull in the bait lines
to get the shark
close enough to tag.
MEGAN: Okay, bring it,
bring it in a little bit.
NARRATOR:
Unlike in South Carolina,
there's no hook, just the bait
to keep the shark interested.
GREG: You're teasing him
right up.
MEGAN: Near three.
Now let him come back.
GREG: Alright.
MEGAN: Tie off.
Keep coming, keep coming!
He's interested.
So let's see if he'll come
for two of the close ones.
GREG: Look at that.
See him up there?
See him up there?
Yup. He's off here.
MEGAN: Yeah, yeah, there goes!
Diving.
GREG: Get ready for an ambush.
There he goes. There he goes.
He, he came right back.
Look at that.
MEGAN: He's coming, he's coming!
NARRATOR: But after one last
look at the bait,
the white shark moves off
into the deep.
GREG: Pretty sneaky
little critter there.
So, I mean, the good news is
there's, there's
white sharks here.
The bad news is we can't get 'em
close enough to tag.
But we hope that changes.
NARRATOR:
Heading back to shore,
the team review the footage
from cameras mounted
on the bait lines.
MEGAN: Chh chh chh chh chh.
Oh, that's such a good one!
HEATHER: So that's when the buoy
went down. You on to that, Meg?
GREG: Look at that.
MEGAN: Oh, it really wanted
that thing. This is awesome.
GREG: Oh, it tears it up.
NARRATOR:
With no claspers visible,
the shark is a juvenile female
and new to the Atlantic
white shark database.
MEGAN: I think we put
this one at like nine. Right?
HEATHER: I've, yeah,
I think so, too.
MEGAN: A nine or ten-footer,
so not a super big one,
still a big shark, but not
really big for a white shark.
GREG: You think this is
typical size
you guys are seeing up here?
HEATHER: It seems to be
a lot of the juveniles,
a lot of the acoustic detections
we get, it's, it's in that,
you know, let's say
9 to 12-foot range.
It's, it's the smaller guys.
GREG: Yeah.
NARRATOR:
It's an important clue
and different to the pattern
Greg and Megan see
some 260 miles to the south
around Cape Cod.
GREG: We do see juveniles,
but a lot of our resident sharks
are big males.
And those big males may be
schoolyard bullies, you know,
pushing these smaller animals
into other parts of their range,
which include, in the summer
and the fall, Canadian waters.
NARRATOR: In 2019, a drone
operator captured sharks
clashing off Cape Cod.
Could territorial adult males
be pushing smaller
white sharks north?
GREG: We also know there are
social interactions
between these sharks
because we see scars.
You know, there are bites,
there are injuries
that are clearly
from other sharks.
And is that associated
with mating?
Certainly it could be.
But it, on juveniles,
it could also be associated
with negative interactions
between sharks.
In other words,
"Get the hell out of here.
This is my neighborhood."
NARRATOR: Territory may
just be part of the puzzle
of what's drawing sharks north.
Canada's Atlantic waters
have some of the richest
fishing grounds in the world.
Sharks in the eight to
nine-feet range are youngsters
and, for the most part,
fish-hunters.
The shape of the seabed here,
combined with the cold
Labrador Current
as it mixes with
the Gulf Stream,
brings nutrients
up to the surface.
(birds squawking)
It makes for the perfect
conditions for marine life
to flourish
in spectacular numbers.
Canada is also experiencing
one of its hottest
Augusts on record.
Could the mix of so much food
and warming waters
be part of what draws
white sharks north?
NARRATOR: With strong winds
putting a hold on their search,
the team decide to split up
to check as many
listening stations as possible
to see if any of their
tagged sharks have shown up.
Greg heads for one of Canada's
most northerly stations
in Conception Bay,
Newfoundland,
over 700 miles to the north.
Every spring, icebergs float
past the entrance to this bay.
Even in summer,
the weather is unpredictable,
and sea temperatures can
plummet with little warning.
It's the furthest north
white sharks have
ever been found.
To check if there's been
any new sightings,
Greg joins up
with Mike Piersiak
from Fisheries and Oceans
Canada.
GREG: How deep does this,
this bay get?
MIKE PIERSIAK: This fjord gets
up to well over 100 meters.
GREG: 300, 400 feet deep?
That's incredible.
What comes in here?
MIKE: We can get
bluefin tuna in here,
that'll follow the cod in,
so, sort of a domino effect.
Once one comes, they all come.
GREG: And I could see
why white sharks
would want to come in here
and visit occasionally.
MIKE: Yeah, tons
for them to eat.
GREG:
There's a lot to eat, yeah.
NARRATOR: The crew
keep a careful watch
as the divers do a summer check
of the listening stations.
If a shark has passed
within 1,500 feet,
it will record
the date and time.
MIKE: Sorry, the wind's
got me, Anna.
GREG: Let's fire this baby up.
MIKE: Let's see what we got.
GREG: See if you recognize
any of these transmitters.
Nothing unusual to you?
MIKE: No.
GREG: No, I don't see
any white sharks either,
so, no detections
so far this year.
We've got some other
receivers to check,
but I, I'm not surprised at all.
You know, we are really
at the northern limit
of this shark's range.
And when you're at the northern
limit of any species' range,
you're in a very dangerous place
for that species.
The white shark is no exception.
NARRATOR: White sharks spend
most of their time
in waters between
52 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
While they can survive
in temperatures
as low as 39 degrees,
spend too long
in water this cold,
it's thought they can die.
GREG: I have certainly
seen sharks
that have been cold shocked.
You know,
it's happened very close
to where I live on Cape Cod.
Bunch of thresher sharks,
we had a really significant
drop in temperature
late in the season,
and those sharks became trapped.
They actually washed up on
shore, frozen, which is amazing.
So it killed them.
And certainly we don't see a lot
of white sharks go through that.
And that's because they
probably avoid those areas
where those kinds of temperature
extremes can happen rapidly.
NARRATOR: Back in Nova Scotia,
the weather has cleared enough
for Megan and Warren to check
local listening stations
to see if any more white sharks
have arrived.
MEGAN: Alright, 9142.
WARREN: 9142.
MEGAN: That's one of our fish.
WARREN: Definitely.
MEGAN: Alright. Dropbox.
9142, who are you?
Ah! That's one of Chip's.
WARREN: One of Chip's?
MEGAN: That's awesome!
He's gonna be so excited.
NARRATOR: Shark 9142 is
a South Carolina shark
known as Asheville.
She was tagged by Chip
on March 8, 2019.
At nine-foot, she's another
juvenile, around 16 years old.
Females reach adulthood when
they get to around 15 feet.
And just like the other sharks
tagged in Carolina,
shark Asheville
spent the spring
moving up the Eastern Seaboard.
She arrived in Cape Cod
on June 23rd,
and stayed for seven days.
She first pinged in Nova Scotia
on July 18th.
It's the third time Asheville
has been detected
in Canadian waters.
And she's not alone.
MEGAN: No!
WARREN: Who's that?
NARRATOR: Three more sharks
are detected
on the listening station.
MEGAN: Hold on,
I've got to double check.
NARRATOR: One is a big male
called Mr. Frisky.
MEGAN: So exciting!
WARREN: On the 23rd, yeah.
NARRATOR: But the rest
are all juveniles.
A pattern is emerging.
Three days later,
and with evidence
of white sharks in the area,
the team are back together
in Wedgeport, Nova Scotia,
trying once again to get a
camera on the back of a shark.
Within minutes, one checks out
the baited lines.
HEATHER: Oh, here it is.
GREG: He's on yours.
NARRATOR: If they can get
the camera tag on,
it will be a first
in Canadian waters
and could reveal
what they hunt here.
HEATHER: Alright, tag's ready.
GREG: It's a good size fish.
MEGAN: Here.
HEATHER: Right here,
right here, right here.
GREG: Get back. Get back. Back.
MEGAN: Yeah, look right there.
Oh, Greg, you got it!
Oh, it's still too deep.
GREG: Little too deep.
MEGAN: Oh!
GREG: Sliding past you.
MEGAN: Oh!
GREG: Oh, (bleep).
GREG: He just grabbed the ball.
MEGAN: Ohhh.
GREG: Damn it.
HEATHER: A tuna.
NARRATOR: It's the second
close miss for Greg and Megan.
GREG: I think if I haven't been
doing this for decades,
I'd probably throw
myself overboard,
because it's, it's
very disappointing.
You think you have that shot,
but when in doubt, don't, right?
And that's what I did.
I, I held back.
Shark passed, I think
a little too deep.
Snagged another bait
and took off.
And then you, you know,
all you do is hope
you get one more shot.
NARRATOR: With just four days
left of the expedition
and time running out to get
a camera tag on a shark,
the team decide to try
a new location.
MEGAN: What we're seeing
with the receivers
that we've checked so far
is there's little pockets
of activity,
different places
along the coast,
and one of the most active spots
seems to be the Bay of Fundy.
So it might be a great idea
to head there
and maybe we'll get a camera tag
out down there.
It's probably our best bet.
Fingers crossed.
NARRATOR: The Bay of Fundy lies
just north of the US border.
It's home to the highest
tidal surges on Earth.
(horn blows)
At this time of year,
warm, humid air from the land
mixes with cool sea air,
creating thick patches of fog.
This will be their last chance
to get the camera tag
on a shark, and conditions
could not be tougher.
They begin to bait the water
once again.
GREG: Currents here are
absolutely amazing, you know?
We got a 20, 30-foot
tidal difference,
and that water comes in and out
pretty quickly,
so I think that's gonna spread
the, the scent trail around.
And these sharks are so well
tuned to finding scent
that it works in our favor.
We'll see.
MEGAN: Shark!
GREG: Whoa!
WARREN: Oh!
MEGAN: Shark!
HEATHER: There we go.
GREG: Game on. Game on.
MEGAN: Okay. Bring, bring
all the floats in.
Warren, if it's pulling you,
let the rope go.
GREG: Let it go.
MEGAN: Let it go.
MEGAN: No, no.
GREG: Oh! Oh!
MEGAN: There it is.
GREG: That's a white shark!
HEATHER: Oh, oh, my god.
GREG: Look at that!
You gotta see this!
That was incredible!
HEATHER: Ah!
GREG: Geez!
HEATHER: Oh, there she is!
Right here!
Yup. Greg, this side.
She's going under the boat.
GREG: Boy, she's fast.
HEATHER: She is fast.
There he is.
GREG: Awesome.
Look at this. Look at this.
HEATHER: There she is.
GREG: Oh, she's gotcha.
Yeah!
(cheering)
Who did I hit? Who did I hit?
Ha ha ha!
NARRATOR: It's the first time
a camera tag
has ever been deployed
on a white shark in Canada.
It will record every move
the shark they've
nicknamed Quady makes
for the next 24 hours,
then release.
GREG: Ah, that was fantastic.
Did you see that?
WARREN: Yeah, I saw it.
(laughter)
Yeah!
MEGAN: I'm still shaking like
probably half an hour later,
'cause I'm still so excited.
NARRATOR: The team track Quady
using a hydrophone
to pick up the signal
coming from his tag.
(chirping)
MEGAN: Oh, yay!
WARREN: It's scanning and
it'll send out the signal
and it'll bounce back.
55001, so it's found it.
MEGAN: Woo. Oh, okay. Cool.
NARRATOR: Staying close
to the shoreline,
Quady hugs the seabed
at 75 feet.
There's so much plankton
in the water,
visibility is
less than three feet.
Sensors log his depth,
speed acceleration,
and even direction.
WARREN: Oh, this might be it
coming back now. Yup.
NARRATOR: Out in deeper water,
Quady stays in the top 200 feet
of the water column.
Unusually for a white shark,
never diving any deeper.
Then 30 minutes in, he suddenly
speeds up and heads south.
And they lose Quady's signal.
WARREN: Found zero.
(chirping)
NARRATOR: 24 hours later,
the tag releases.
Megan uses a radio signal
to locate it.
MEGAN: Whoa! Oh, basker!
A big basker!
That's amazing!
GREG: Big basking shark?
MEGAN: A basker!
It's beautiful! It's huge!
(laughs)
GREG: This place is an aquarium.
MEGAN: That was a big fish.
So cool.
It should be dead ahead.
I think I see it right in
the middle of the weed mat.
GREG: Oh, yeah, there it is.
MEGAN: Ah!
GREG: Alright!
There it is. Beautiful.
MEGAN: Thank god!
GREG: Nice. Look at that.
What this is right now
is just a treasure trove
of, of information.
MEGAN: Alright, so here we go.
HEATHER: Okay.
NARRATOR: Back at base,
the team pore over the footage.
HEATHER: Oh, neat.
GREG: Wow.
MEGAN: It just went
straight to the bottom,
and there's not a lot of light.
GREG: Yeah, you put yourself
down on the bottom there,
first of all, it's hard for
anything else to see you.
WARREN: Certainly.
GREG: Because you have
a really dark back,
and you're probably
blending in really well
with that rocky, dark bottom.
MEGAN: But then it definitely
goes out into deeper water.
Not for very long, though,
like, it makes a couple
quick zigzag dives,
and then the rest of the track
it stays pretty shallow in
warmer kind of surface waters.
GREG: What's--look at that.
That, that...
HEATHER: He must have
turned around.
MEGAN: It's, oh, you can just
see the side of it,
it's going after something.
Wait, whoa, whoa. Whoa!
HEATHER: Wait, wait.
WARREN: Did it get something?
GREG: What was that?
MEGAN: Okay, we gotta go back.
We gotta slo-mo it,
because like a lot of times
with these things,
it just happens so fast.
You can't even...
GREG: Because
it definitely turned.
MEGAN: Oh, yeah.
GREG: Looked like
it grabbed something.
MEGAN: Okay, so it's got
its head pointed up now,
and then the next shake.
GREG: Right there.
MEGAN: Yeah.
It's got something in its mouth.
HEATHER: What is that?
MEGAN: I mean...
GREG: That's definitely
something in its mouth.
The shark just fed.
WARREN: I guess it could be
dogfish, it could be skates,
could be halibut,
flatfish on there.
GREG: I don't know.
HEATHER: It's big enough
it had to bite it.
WARREN: Yeah.
GREG: Yeah. Yup, it did.
NARRATOR:
It's the first glimpse
at what white sharks are up to
in Canadian waters.
MEGAN: So this is really
incredible for us to see.
I mean, this is
one shark, right,
that's gotten a camera tag
off of Canada so far.
But I can already tell you that
they operate so differently
in this environment than
they do off of Cape Cod.
A lot of people think of them
as only seal-eaters
or mammal-eaters, but they have
a very diverse diet,
and they're very
opportunistic predators,
which allows them
to take advantage
of all these wonderful,
productive, unique habitats
throughout the course
of their migration.
NARRATOR: September 3rd,
and much of Canada
breaks its heat records.
It's the last day
of Greg's trip.
To find out if sea temperatures
could be influencing
shark numbers in
the Canadian Atlantic,
he heads up to Newfoundland
to meet Frederic Cyr
at the Memorial University.
FREDERIC CYR: We have this
monitoring program going on for,
for about, uh, 30 years
right now.
GREG: Yup.
FREDERIC: And yeah, we,
we monitor how the ocean
is behaving, and, and we seem
to see a warming up
over the recent years,
especially at the surface.
GREG: Really?
FREDERIC: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Could warming surface
waters be allowing white sharks
to penetrate further
into Canadian territory?
FREDERIC: This is sea surface
temperature average
over decades, so you have
the '80s, the '90s, 2000, 2010s.
And what you see is basically,
if you look at that,
you see the, the iso,
isotherms moving up.
GREG: That is
absolutely amazing.
Look at that shift
in the black line.
And that indicates that
white sharks are likely
to arrive earlier,
spend more time here,
leave a little bit later.
I mean, I think this
is really cool.
FREDERIC: You see here.
GREG: And it would explain why,
you know, more white sharks
would come to these areas.
FREDERIC: One thing is that
underneath the surface,
as soon as you hit
about 50 meters,
it will still remain
pretty cold.
So we will find here
in the middle of the summer,
waters below
zero degrees Celsius.
GREG: Really? Now, that's really
cool, and I'll tell you why.
We've tracked a bunch of our
white sharks from Cape Cod,
from parts south,
as far south as South Carolina.
They move up here
in the summertime.
They love these warm
surface waters, you know?
But once they get down
to about 150, 160 feet,
the 50 meters
you're talking about,
they only go down for
a short period of time.
NARRATOR: It's exactly
the dive pattern
white shark Quady showed
on the camera tag.
GREG: Well, it makes
perfect sense to me,
'cause you're telling me
if they go any deeper,
it's too cold for 'em.
FREDERIC: Well, I wouldn't
like to be there.
GREG: No. No.
FREDERIC: Zero degrees Celsius.
I don't know how they...
GREG: They can't do it. They
just absolutely can't do it.
So it's really cool,
because we're seeing
that the bulk of our fish
spend almost all their time
in that warm surface layer.
FREDERIC: It's different.
NARRATOR: With white sharks
in Canada
trapped in the surface
layers of the ocean
and the evidence
from the camera tag
confirming they're
opportunistic hunters,
the team's review of the year's
listening station data
brings further revelation.
A lot of sharks normally
seen off Cape Cod are here.
MEGAN: This is
really interesting
because a lot of these--
so, Broken Tail,
Scary Shark, Mr. Frisky,
a lot of them were like
kind of our resident sharks
for years.
They didn't even, we didn't,
don't have any detections
of them this year.
HEATHER: Didn't even see them.
MEGAN: Mm-mm.
HEATHER: Yeah.
MEGAN: It's really interesting
that some of these guys
seem to have kind of shifted.
GREG: I'm also seeing
a lot of South Carolina fish...
MEGAN: Lot of shifts.
GREG: ...as well, you know?
But not a lot of big adults.
NARRATOR: Plotting
the detections on a map,
the scale of the white shark
presence becomes clear.
GREG: They're kind of just
blowing up everywhere
at the same time.
HEATHER: We thought
it was quite amazing
how many sharks we saw up here.
Um, this year there were
78 of them, 78 individuals,
which is the most
we have seen in Canada
since we started monitoring.
MEGAN: That's crazy.
Off of Cape Cod we detected 120,
if that puts this
in perspective at all.
That's a lot
of activity up here.
NARRATOR: It's evidence Canada
is a white shark hot spot,
particularly for
inexperienced juvenile sharks.
And may explain why Canada
witnessed its first shark bite
in 150 years.
GREG: It's been
a phenomenal year for me.
If you asked me a few years ago,
what do you think about
white sharks in Canada?
I'd say yes, they go there,
but I didn't realize the,
the presence of these animals.
These sharks are spreading out
almost throughout
Canadian waters.
This is an ancient animal.
It's been around
for millions of years.
It's a survivor
because it can adapt,
and it will continue to adapt.
We're going to keep seeing
white sharks off Canada,
and quite possibly
we'll see more.
Captioned by
Side Door Media Services
in a picturesque part
of western Cape Breton tonight.
NARRATOR: August 2021
and Canada is rocked by news
of a shark attack.
NEWSCASTER: A 21-year-old woman
from Cape Breton
was airlifted to hospital
after an apparent shark attack.
NARRATOR: It's the first
confirmed shark bite
in Canadian waters
in over 150 years.
And just the latest in a number
of mysterious shark sightings
being reported right across
Canada's Eastern Seaboard.
MAN: Oh, no!
NARRATOR: Is the Atlantic's
most formidable hunter
heading north?
GREG SKOMAL: Have you ever
been here before?
MEGAN WINTON:
To Nova Scotia? No, no, you?
GREG: No. Never been here.
NARRATOR: It's winter
in Cape Breton,
and the shark behind the attack
has long since departed.
GREG: This is pretty cool
up here, huh?
MEGAN: I mean, it's the dead
of winter here right now,
it looks like.
I feel like I'm at
the North Pole.
NARRATOR: Now, shark experts
Megan Winton and Greg Skomal
comb the coastline
looking for clues.
GREG: Unprovoked attacks
on humans
are extremely rare events,
and in particular this far
north, almost unheard of.
There's really just
a handful of species
that come here
in the summertime.
You know, you've got
the basking shark,
it eats plankton, you know.
Forget that, right?
You got porbeagles,
which tend to be much smaller,
very rarely, if ever,
implicated in attacks on people.
You got blue sharks.
Yeah, they're relatively
abundant in the summertime,
but still they're
not a dangerous shark.
So in my mind, it really
just leaves one culprit,
and that's the, that's
the great white shark.
NARRATOR: White sharks have
traditionally been seen
as rare visitors
to Canadian waters.
Up until 2006, there had been
just 32 recorded sightings.
But in recent years, there have
been more and more reports
of white sharks heading north.
GREG: What are these
white sharks doing here?
What's drawing them
this far north?
Those are the kinds of questions
we're trying to answer.
NARRATOR: Greg and Megan's goal
is to put a camera tag
on a white shark in Canadian
waters for the very first time.
If they can tag one,
they may be able to learn
why more sharks appear
to be moving north.
MEGAN: Oh.
GREG: Man, this is wild
out here.
It's deep water between us
and that island.
NARRATOR: Off the island
of Margaree,
Megan uses a drone to survey
the attack site.
MEGAN: Oh, wow, look at that.
Just beyond the snow, there's
a bunch of seals. You see 'em?
GREG: Yeah.
Look at those,
gray seals, right?
MEGAN: I think so, yeah.
Look at 'em.
Big slobs,
little pockets of them.
GREG: Yeah.
MEGAN: A lot of them.
It's crazy deep, dark water.
GREG: Yeah, it looks like
it drops right off,
right at the shoreline there.
MEGAN: Perfect place
for them to hunt.
The seals wouldn't see 'em
coming at all here.
NARRATOR: Ambush hunters,
white sharks like
to surprise their prey.
Hanging in the deep,
their gray backs blend
into the background,
making them difficult for seals
to spot from the surface.
Their eyes are highly sensitive
to contrasts between
light and dark.
Seals or swimmers silhouetted
against the surface
would stand out
in vivid relief.
GREG: I can't say with
100% certainty that this is,
you know, an incident created
by a white shark,
but I'm, I'm very confident
that it was.
It's just a lot of evidence.
There's plenty of seals here.
The habitat is ideal
for white sharks.
We've got an eyewitness account.
They saw a dark fin.
You know, as far as
I'm concerned,
this was a white shark attack.
And because
it made a bad decision,
it's likely it was a juvenile
shark, an inexperienced shark.
NARRATOR: Megan and Greg
now believe they know
what type of shark
was responsible
for the Canadian attack.
But there are no signs
of white sharks to tag
in this near-freezing water.
Every year, white sharks
undertake huge migrations
in the North Atlantic.
It's February,
and at this time of year,
the relatively warm waters
of South Carolina
are a favorite
winter destination.
To catch up with the sharks,
Greg and Megan are nearly
1,500 miles south
in the town of Hilton Head.
MEGAN: It's nice to be warm.
GREG: Yeah. This is sweet.
Well, I'm psyched to get
out on the water here.
NARRATOR: Greg and Megan's
mission here
is to catch and tag
as many sharks as they can find
and follow them north.
The data could point them
to where the white sharks
are traveling to
in Canada and why.
To help find them...
MEGAN: Hey, Chip!
GREG: Hey, Chip.
NARRATOR: ...Greg and Megan
team up with Chip Michalove,
who's been tagging sharks
for Greg's Atlantic white shark
study for the last six years.
GREG: Good to see you.
NARRATOR: Chip leads the team
60 miles offshore
where the continental shelf
slips away
to depths of over 300 feet.
The deep water here
is the perfect place
for white sharks to ambush prey
like dolphins.
But the depth makes it
difficult to tag.
The only way to lure one up
is using a baited hook.
GREG: What the hell happens
when we hook up?
CHIP: Oh, my gosh,
the adrenaline rush,
through the roof.
I'll tell you one thing, you
sleep really good that night.
MEGAN: Oh, my gosh.
GREG: Well, I want to sleep
really good tonight,
which means I really want
to get one of these fish.
CHIP: Yeah.
NARRATOR: As Chip prepares
a white shark favorite
of tuna heads,
Megan readies two tags.
MEGAN: So this is
an acoustic transmitter.
This is a tag that will ping
every minute or so.
And whenever a shark swims past
an acoustic receiver,
which line the whole coast of
the US and Canadian Atlantic,
we'll get a date and timestamp
of when that shark was there.
NARRATOR: The second device
is a satellite tag.
MEGAN: This logs light level
information, temperature,
and depth data for a year.
And so we'll use this tag
to figure out
the broad scale movements
of that animal
over the course of the year.
So together,
this packs a huge punch.
NARRATOR: All they need now
is a shark.
MEGAN: The dorsal just...
GREG: Oh, yeah, see the dorsal?
Dorsal's up.
CHIP: You guys ready for this?
GREG: Where is it? Where is it?
MEGAN: It's right, right here.
CHIP: Right behind the boat,
right here.
MEGAN: Oh, my god,
this is amazing.
NARRATOR: Drawing a white shark
in is one thing,
but will it take the bait?
MEGAN: They're coming in, coming
in, coming in towards the bait.
GREG: Coming to the bait.
Coming to the bait.
Ooh, shaking his head.
Shaking his head.
I've reeled in a lot
of big fish in my life,
big tunas, couple of marlin.
And this, this is different.
Feels like I'm trying
to stop a truck.
Oh, look at that fish.
Wow.
That's no small fish.
MEGAN: Yeah. Yeah.
CHIP: Alright. Meg, off you go.
GREG: Oh, my god.
MEGAN: I can't--
CHIP: Game on! Game on!
GREG: You can do it, Meg.
MEGAN: Oh, my god.
NARRATOR: At nine feet long,
it's a juvenile female.
A perfect candidate
for Megan's tag.
CHIP: Yeah!
GREG: Yes!
CHIP: Yeah ha ha! Nice!
Nice work! Yeah!
NARRATOR: Tag on, the shark
they've named Reese
is the 283rd individual
to join the biggest study
of white sharks
in the Atlantic.
While her satellite tag will
detach in a year's time,
the small acoustic pinger will
continue to track her movements
for another 10 years.
Where Reese heads in the coming
months will help Greg and Megan
build a unique picture
of the movements
of Atlantic white sharks,
and if shark Reese has
a preference for Canada.
Over the next few weeks, Chip
tags seven more white sharks,
bringing the total number
of Carolina sharks
tagged this winter to eight.
Over the next three months,
all eight head north.
A network of thousands
of listening stations
log the signal from their tags.
As the sharks move north,
they head towards cooler water.
White sharks are the members
of an elite family
of five shark species
known as the lamnids.
While most sharks
are cold-blooded,
lamnids have evolved the
ability to keep their bodies
warmer than
the surrounding water.
They can capture the heat
they generate as they swim
and keep it in their bodies
through specialized
blood vessels.
It's a superpower that allows
them to thrive in waters
off limits to most of
their cold-blooded cousins.
By June, sharks Josiah
and Barnacle Ben
reach Cape Cod, Massachusetts,
the white shark capital
of the Atlantic.
Every year, hundreds
of white sharks gather
to feed on the huge
seal colonies
that pepper the coastline here.
(seals barking)
GREG: Seals are constantly
coming and going, you know,
but estimates have been
anywhere up to 50,000 seals
in that region
during the summertime.
So it makes sense that
a lot of white sharks
will come to Cape Cod.
NARRATOR: Greg has spent
the last decade
studying great whites
in these waters.
He's discovered they like
to hunt close to shore
in water as shallow
as a few feet.
SPOTTER: Hey, John,
I got one down here,
north end of Monomoy,
I'm circling now.
NARRATOR: Tagging sharks
is much easier here.
The water is so shallow,
Greg uses eyes in the sky
to spot the sharks
from the air.
There's no need for a hook.
SPOTTER: So, it's 10:30
and a boat and a half,
you'll probably see 'em.
GREG: He's on the port side.
CHIP: Alright,
let's get ready here.
GREG: Yeah!
CHIP: Yeah!
GREG: That's how it's done!
NARRATOR: By the end of July,
12 more sharks are tagged,
bringing the total in the
Atlantic white shark database
to 560.
But despite
the almost limitless
amount of seals on offer,
several tagged sharks choose to
leave the Cape and head north.
They're soon joined
by shark Reese
and her fellow South Carolina
sharks Pavel, Sicklefin,
and Eddie, who bypassed
Cape Cod altogether
on their way up towards
the Canadian border.
To find out what's
drawing them to Canada,
Greg and Megan follow the
sharks back over the border.
Their mission remains
to find a white shark
and deploy the first-ever
camera tag
on the back of one
in Canadian waters.
GREG: Canada's gonna be
a lot different
from what Megan and I
are used to.
You know, we go to Cape Cod.
It's a fairly small area,
shallow water,
lots of white sharks.
Up here, much different.
You know, lots of space.
Finding them is gonna be
pretty tricky.
NARRATOR: Their first
destination
is the southern tip of
the Nova Scotian Peninsula.
Some 300 miles south of the
suspected white shark attack.
Last year over 20 different
white sharks were detected
on the listening stations
in the area.
And local fishermen
also report
an increase in sightings here.
ONLOOKER: Oh, no!
(seals barking)
HEATHER BOWLBY:
Welcome to Nova Scotia!
GREG: Finally. A little chilly.
HEATHER: How was the drive up?
NARRATOR: At the small harbor
of Wedgeport,
Greg and Megan meet
Canadian shark experts
Heather Bowlby
and Warren Joyce.
GREG: Awesome, awesome.
You got a spot for us to go?
WARREN JOYCE: I think so, yeah.
GREG: Let's give it a shot.
WARREN: Yeah.
HEATHER: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Heather and Warren
have been investigating
Canadian white shark sightings
for over five years.
HEATHER: We're really excited
that Greg and Megan
were able to come up this year.
We only know snippets
about white sharks in Canada.
We're still trying to work out
why they're here,
what they're doing
while they're here,
and the places
that they frequent.
So it's an open field.
There's, there's
a lot to answer.
NARRATOR: As they head out,
Warren and the skipper,
Eric Jacquard,
decide where to start
their hunt.
ERIC JACQUARD: We've had
reports on sightings
the last couple weeks,
and then we've seen,
actually seen the fish,
Saturday and Sunday here...
WARREN: Right.
ERIC: ...ourselves,
so, so they're around.
WARREN: They're around. Okay.
Well, let's hope we,
let's hope we get one today.
ERIC: That's right. Copy, copy.
We've all seen great whites
in the area.
One of our friends was traveling
from, from the island to home,
and, uh, he did, he did see
an actual seal bit in half.
And then another friend of ours,
he actually seen the shark
throw the seal up in the air.
There's been a lot of
interesting sightings,
seems to be more and more common
these last few years.
Seems to be a growing,
a growing concern.
NARRATOR: Five miles
from harbor,
Megan preps a brand new kit
that could reveal why
white sharks are here.
MEGAN: So this is my favorite
shark spy tool at the moment.
This tag is outfitted with
a bunch of different sensors
that will tell us exactly
how the shark is moving
and navigating its environment
20 times a second,
which is absolutely
an incredible amount
of information.
The best part about this tag,
though, what I love about it,
is it has a camera in it that
allows us to see what the shark
is doing the whole time
it's on the animal.
It's gonna be a real
game-changer for us
in terms of figuring out how
they use Canadian waters.
NARRATOR: To attach
the new tag,
they need to get within
10 feet of the shark.
But first, they have the huge
challenge of drawing one in.
There's been less than
100 confirmed sightings
in Canada since records began.
To tempt a white shark close,
the team depends on
baited lines.
White sharks have one of
the most sensitive noses
in the ocean.
It's thought
14% of their brains
are dedicated
to processing smells.
Will any pick up the scent?
NARRATOR: 2:00 PM,
and the oils leaching off
the three buoyed bait lines
now create a slick
several miles long.
GREG: The water's super deep.
We can't use a spotter plane
to find them,
because the sharks get down
a few feet and we can't see 'em.
So in order to get 'em,
we got to entice 'em.
Get 'em in tight
so we can tag 'em.
NARRATOR: Minutes
turns into hours,
and there's still no movements
on the buoys.
Then, eight hours
into the operation...
WARREN: Whoa, whoa, whoa,
we got something!
MEGAN: Which one's it on?
WARREN: Number two, number two.
NARRATOR: A white shark
takes the bait.
MEGAN: Yup, there it goes!
Shark right in the middle!
GREG: There it goes,
there it goes. There it goes.
Okay. Alright.
NARRATOR: To find a white shark
on their first day is huge.
Heather and Warren
have only ever tagged
one white shark a year
in Canada.
GREG: Bottom of the ninth.
Two outs.
MEGAN: This is how we roll.
NARRATOR: They now need
to pull in the bait lines
to get the shark
close enough to tag.
MEGAN: Okay, bring it,
bring it in a little bit.
NARRATOR:
Unlike in South Carolina,
there's no hook, just the bait
to keep the shark interested.
GREG: You're teasing him
right up.
MEGAN: Near three.
Now let him come back.
GREG: Alright.
MEGAN: Tie off.
Keep coming, keep coming!
He's interested.
So let's see if he'll come
for two of the close ones.
GREG: Look at that.
See him up there?
See him up there?
Yup. He's off here.
MEGAN: Yeah, yeah, there goes!
Diving.
GREG: Get ready for an ambush.
There he goes. There he goes.
He, he came right back.
Look at that.
MEGAN: He's coming, he's coming!
NARRATOR: But after one last
look at the bait,
the white shark moves off
into the deep.
GREG: Pretty sneaky
little critter there.
So, I mean, the good news is
there's, there's
white sharks here.
The bad news is we can't get 'em
close enough to tag.
But we hope that changes.
NARRATOR:
Heading back to shore,
the team review the footage
from cameras mounted
on the bait lines.
MEGAN: Chh chh chh chh chh.
Oh, that's such a good one!
HEATHER: So that's when the buoy
went down. You on to that, Meg?
GREG: Look at that.
MEGAN: Oh, it really wanted
that thing. This is awesome.
GREG: Oh, it tears it up.
NARRATOR:
With no claspers visible,
the shark is a juvenile female
and new to the Atlantic
white shark database.
MEGAN: I think we put
this one at like nine. Right?
HEATHER: I've, yeah,
I think so, too.
MEGAN: A nine or ten-footer,
so not a super big one,
still a big shark, but not
really big for a white shark.
GREG: You think this is
typical size
you guys are seeing up here?
HEATHER: It seems to be
a lot of the juveniles,
a lot of the acoustic detections
we get, it's, it's in that,
you know, let's say
9 to 12-foot range.
It's, it's the smaller guys.
GREG: Yeah.
NARRATOR:
It's an important clue
and different to the pattern
Greg and Megan see
some 260 miles to the south
around Cape Cod.
GREG: We do see juveniles,
but a lot of our resident sharks
are big males.
And those big males may be
schoolyard bullies, you know,
pushing these smaller animals
into other parts of their range,
which include, in the summer
and the fall, Canadian waters.
NARRATOR: In 2019, a drone
operator captured sharks
clashing off Cape Cod.
Could territorial adult males
be pushing smaller
white sharks north?
GREG: We also know there are
social interactions
between these sharks
because we see scars.
You know, there are bites,
there are injuries
that are clearly
from other sharks.
And is that associated
with mating?
Certainly it could be.
But it, on juveniles,
it could also be associated
with negative interactions
between sharks.
In other words,
"Get the hell out of here.
This is my neighborhood."
NARRATOR: Territory may
just be part of the puzzle
of what's drawing sharks north.
Canada's Atlantic waters
have some of the richest
fishing grounds in the world.
Sharks in the eight to
nine-feet range are youngsters
and, for the most part,
fish-hunters.
The shape of the seabed here,
combined with the cold
Labrador Current
as it mixes with
the Gulf Stream,
brings nutrients
up to the surface.
(birds squawking)
It makes for the perfect
conditions for marine life
to flourish
in spectacular numbers.
Canada is also experiencing
one of its hottest
Augusts on record.
Could the mix of so much food
and warming waters
be part of what draws
white sharks north?
NARRATOR: With strong winds
putting a hold on their search,
the team decide to split up
to check as many
listening stations as possible
to see if any of their
tagged sharks have shown up.
Greg heads for one of Canada's
most northerly stations
in Conception Bay,
Newfoundland,
over 700 miles to the north.
Every spring, icebergs float
past the entrance to this bay.
Even in summer,
the weather is unpredictable,
and sea temperatures can
plummet with little warning.
It's the furthest north
white sharks have
ever been found.
To check if there's been
any new sightings,
Greg joins up
with Mike Piersiak
from Fisheries and Oceans
Canada.
GREG: How deep does this,
this bay get?
MIKE PIERSIAK: This fjord gets
up to well over 100 meters.
GREG: 300, 400 feet deep?
That's incredible.
What comes in here?
MIKE: We can get
bluefin tuna in here,
that'll follow the cod in,
so, sort of a domino effect.
Once one comes, they all come.
GREG: And I could see
why white sharks
would want to come in here
and visit occasionally.
MIKE: Yeah, tons
for them to eat.
GREG:
There's a lot to eat, yeah.
NARRATOR: The crew
keep a careful watch
as the divers do a summer check
of the listening stations.
If a shark has passed
within 1,500 feet,
it will record
the date and time.
MIKE: Sorry, the wind's
got me, Anna.
GREG: Let's fire this baby up.
MIKE: Let's see what we got.
GREG: See if you recognize
any of these transmitters.
Nothing unusual to you?
MIKE: No.
GREG: No, I don't see
any white sharks either,
so, no detections
so far this year.
We've got some other
receivers to check,
but I, I'm not surprised at all.
You know, we are really
at the northern limit
of this shark's range.
And when you're at the northern
limit of any species' range,
you're in a very dangerous place
for that species.
The white shark is no exception.
NARRATOR: White sharks spend
most of their time
in waters between
52 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
While they can survive
in temperatures
as low as 39 degrees,
spend too long
in water this cold,
it's thought they can die.
GREG: I have certainly
seen sharks
that have been cold shocked.
You know,
it's happened very close
to where I live on Cape Cod.
Bunch of thresher sharks,
we had a really significant
drop in temperature
late in the season,
and those sharks became trapped.
They actually washed up on
shore, frozen, which is amazing.
So it killed them.
And certainly we don't see a lot
of white sharks go through that.
And that's because they
probably avoid those areas
where those kinds of temperature
extremes can happen rapidly.
NARRATOR: Back in Nova Scotia,
the weather has cleared enough
for Megan and Warren to check
local listening stations
to see if any more white sharks
have arrived.
MEGAN: Alright, 9142.
WARREN: 9142.
MEGAN: That's one of our fish.
WARREN: Definitely.
MEGAN: Alright. Dropbox.
9142, who are you?
Ah! That's one of Chip's.
WARREN: One of Chip's?
MEGAN: That's awesome!
He's gonna be so excited.
NARRATOR: Shark 9142 is
a South Carolina shark
known as Asheville.
She was tagged by Chip
on March 8, 2019.
At nine-foot, she's another
juvenile, around 16 years old.
Females reach adulthood when
they get to around 15 feet.
And just like the other sharks
tagged in Carolina,
shark Asheville
spent the spring
moving up the Eastern Seaboard.
She arrived in Cape Cod
on June 23rd,
and stayed for seven days.
She first pinged in Nova Scotia
on July 18th.
It's the third time Asheville
has been detected
in Canadian waters.
And she's not alone.
MEGAN: No!
WARREN: Who's that?
NARRATOR: Three more sharks
are detected
on the listening station.
MEGAN: Hold on,
I've got to double check.
NARRATOR: One is a big male
called Mr. Frisky.
MEGAN: So exciting!
WARREN: On the 23rd, yeah.
NARRATOR: But the rest
are all juveniles.
A pattern is emerging.
Three days later,
and with evidence
of white sharks in the area,
the team are back together
in Wedgeport, Nova Scotia,
trying once again to get a
camera on the back of a shark.
Within minutes, one checks out
the baited lines.
HEATHER: Oh, here it is.
GREG: He's on yours.
NARRATOR: If they can get
the camera tag on,
it will be a first
in Canadian waters
and could reveal
what they hunt here.
HEATHER: Alright, tag's ready.
GREG: It's a good size fish.
MEGAN: Here.
HEATHER: Right here,
right here, right here.
GREG: Get back. Get back. Back.
MEGAN: Yeah, look right there.
Oh, Greg, you got it!
Oh, it's still too deep.
GREG: Little too deep.
MEGAN: Oh!
GREG: Sliding past you.
MEGAN: Oh!
GREG: Oh, (bleep).
GREG: He just grabbed the ball.
MEGAN: Ohhh.
GREG: Damn it.
HEATHER: A tuna.
NARRATOR: It's the second
close miss for Greg and Megan.
GREG: I think if I haven't been
doing this for decades,
I'd probably throw
myself overboard,
because it's, it's
very disappointing.
You think you have that shot,
but when in doubt, don't, right?
And that's what I did.
I, I held back.
Shark passed, I think
a little too deep.
Snagged another bait
and took off.
And then you, you know,
all you do is hope
you get one more shot.
NARRATOR: With just four days
left of the expedition
and time running out to get
a camera tag on a shark,
the team decide to try
a new location.
MEGAN: What we're seeing
with the receivers
that we've checked so far
is there's little pockets
of activity,
different places
along the coast,
and one of the most active spots
seems to be the Bay of Fundy.
So it might be a great idea
to head there
and maybe we'll get a camera tag
out down there.
It's probably our best bet.
Fingers crossed.
NARRATOR: The Bay of Fundy lies
just north of the US border.
It's home to the highest
tidal surges on Earth.
(horn blows)
At this time of year,
warm, humid air from the land
mixes with cool sea air,
creating thick patches of fog.
This will be their last chance
to get the camera tag
on a shark, and conditions
could not be tougher.
They begin to bait the water
once again.
GREG: Currents here are
absolutely amazing, you know?
We got a 20, 30-foot
tidal difference,
and that water comes in and out
pretty quickly,
so I think that's gonna spread
the, the scent trail around.
And these sharks are so well
tuned to finding scent
that it works in our favor.
We'll see.
MEGAN: Shark!
GREG: Whoa!
WARREN: Oh!
MEGAN: Shark!
HEATHER: There we go.
GREG: Game on. Game on.
MEGAN: Okay. Bring, bring
all the floats in.
Warren, if it's pulling you,
let the rope go.
GREG: Let it go.
MEGAN: Let it go.
MEGAN: No, no.
GREG: Oh! Oh!
MEGAN: There it is.
GREG: That's a white shark!
HEATHER: Oh, oh, my god.
GREG: Look at that!
You gotta see this!
That was incredible!
HEATHER: Ah!
GREG: Geez!
HEATHER: Oh, there she is!
Right here!
Yup. Greg, this side.
She's going under the boat.
GREG: Boy, she's fast.
HEATHER: She is fast.
There he is.
GREG: Awesome.
Look at this. Look at this.
HEATHER: There she is.
GREG: Oh, she's gotcha.
Yeah!
(cheering)
Who did I hit? Who did I hit?
Ha ha ha!
NARRATOR: It's the first time
a camera tag
has ever been deployed
on a white shark in Canada.
It will record every move
the shark they've
nicknamed Quady makes
for the next 24 hours,
then release.
GREG: Ah, that was fantastic.
Did you see that?
WARREN: Yeah, I saw it.
(laughter)
Yeah!
MEGAN: I'm still shaking like
probably half an hour later,
'cause I'm still so excited.
NARRATOR: The team track Quady
using a hydrophone
to pick up the signal
coming from his tag.
(chirping)
MEGAN: Oh, yay!
WARREN: It's scanning and
it'll send out the signal
and it'll bounce back.
55001, so it's found it.
MEGAN: Woo. Oh, okay. Cool.
NARRATOR: Staying close
to the shoreline,
Quady hugs the seabed
at 75 feet.
There's so much plankton
in the water,
visibility is
less than three feet.
Sensors log his depth,
speed acceleration,
and even direction.
WARREN: Oh, this might be it
coming back now. Yup.
NARRATOR: Out in deeper water,
Quady stays in the top 200 feet
of the water column.
Unusually for a white shark,
never diving any deeper.
Then 30 minutes in, he suddenly
speeds up and heads south.
And they lose Quady's signal.
WARREN: Found zero.
(chirping)
NARRATOR: 24 hours later,
the tag releases.
Megan uses a radio signal
to locate it.
MEGAN: Whoa! Oh, basker!
A big basker!
That's amazing!
GREG: Big basking shark?
MEGAN: A basker!
It's beautiful! It's huge!
(laughs)
GREG: This place is an aquarium.
MEGAN: That was a big fish.
So cool.
It should be dead ahead.
I think I see it right in
the middle of the weed mat.
GREG: Oh, yeah, there it is.
MEGAN: Ah!
GREG: Alright!
There it is. Beautiful.
MEGAN: Thank god!
GREG: Nice. Look at that.
What this is right now
is just a treasure trove
of, of information.
MEGAN: Alright, so here we go.
HEATHER: Okay.
NARRATOR: Back at base,
the team pore over the footage.
HEATHER: Oh, neat.
GREG: Wow.
MEGAN: It just went
straight to the bottom,
and there's not a lot of light.
GREG: Yeah, you put yourself
down on the bottom there,
first of all, it's hard for
anything else to see you.
WARREN: Certainly.
GREG: Because you have
a really dark back,
and you're probably
blending in really well
with that rocky, dark bottom.
MEGAN: But then it definitely
goes out into deeper water.
Not for very long, though,
like, it makes a couple
quick zigzag dives,
and then the rest of the track
it stays pretty shallow in
warmer kind of surface waters.
GREG: What's--look at that.
That, that...
HEATHER: He must have
turned around.
MEGAN: It's, oh, you can just
see the side of it,
it's going after something.
Wait, whoa, whoa. Whoa!
HEATHER: Wait, wait.
WARREN: Did it get something?
GREG: What was that?
MEGAN: Okay, we gotta go back.
We gotta slo-mo it,
because like a lot of times
with these things,
it just happens so fast.
You can't even...
GREG: Because
it definitely turned.
MEGAN: Oh, yeah.
GREG: Looked like
it grabbed something.
MEGAN: Okay, so it's got
its head pointed up now,
and then the next shake.
GREG: Right there.
MEGAN: Yeah.
It's got something in its mouth.
HEATHER: What is that?
MEGAN: I mean...
GREG: That's definitely
something in its mouth.
The shark just fed.
WARREN: I guess it could be
dogfish, it could be skates,
could be halibut,
flatfish on there.
GREG: I don't know.
HEATHER: It's big enough
it had to bite it.
WARREN: Yeah.
GREG: Yeah. Yup, it did.
NARRATOR:
It's the first glimpse
at what white sharks are up to
in Canadian waters.
MEGAN: So this is really
incredible for us to see.
I mean, this is
one shark, right,
that's gotten a camera tag
off of Canada so far.
But I can already tell you that
they operate so differently
in this environment than
they do off of Cape Cod.
A lot of people think of them
as only seal-eaters
or mammal-eaters, but they have
a very diverse diet,
and they're very
opportunistic predators,
which allows them
to take advantage
of all these wonderful,
productive, unique habitats
throughout the course
of their migration.
NARRATOR: September 3rd,
and much of Canada
breaks its heat records.
It's the last day
of Greg's trip.
To find out if sea temperatures
could be influencing
shark numbers in
the Canadian Atlantic,
he heads up to Newfoundland
to meet Frederic Cyr
at the Memorial University.
FREDERIC CYR: We have this
monitoring program going on for,
for about, uh, 30 years
right now.
GREG: Yup.
FREDERIC: And yeah, we,
we monitor how the ocean
is behaving, and, and we seem
to see a warming up
over the recent years,
especially at the surface.
GREG: Really?
FREDERIC: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Could warming surface
waters be allowing white sharks
to penetrate further
into Canadian territory?
FREDERIC: This is sea surface
temperature average
over decades, so you have
the '80s, the '90s, 2000, 2010s.
And what you see is basically,
if you look at that,
you see the, the iso,
isotherms moving up.
GREG: That is
absolutely amazing.
Look at that shift
in the black line.
And that indicates that
white sharks are likely
to arrive earlier,
spend more time here,
leave a little bit later.
I mean, I think this
is really cool.
FREDERIC: You see here.
GREG: And it would explain why,
you know, more white sharks
would come to these areas.
FREDERIC: One thing is that
underneath the surface,
as soon as you hit
about 50 meters,
it will still remain
pretty cold.
So we will find here
in the middle of the summer,
waters below
zero degrees Celsius.
GREG: Really? Now, that's really
cool, and I'll tell you why.
We've tracked a bunch of our
white sharks from Cape Cod,
from parts south,
as far south as South Carolina.
They move up here
in the summertime.
They love these warm
surface waters, you know?
But once they get down
to about 150, 160 feet,
the 50 meters
you're talking about,
they only go down for
a short period of time.
NARRATOR: It's exactly
the dive pattern
white shark Quady showed
on the camera tag.
GREG: Well, it makes
perfect sense to me,
'cause you're telling me
if they go any deeper,
it's too cold for 'em.
FREDERIC: Well, I wouldn't
like to be there.
GREG: No. No.
FREDERIC: Zero degrees Celsius.
I don't know how they...
GREG: They can't do it. They
just absolutely can't do it.
So it's really cool,
because we're seeing
that the bulk of our fish
spend almost all their time
in that warm surface layer.
FREDERIC: It's different.
NARRATOR: With white sharks
in Canada
trapped in the surface
layers of the ocean
and the evidence
from the camera tag
confirming they're
opportunistic hunters,
the team's review of the year's
listening station data
brings further revelation.
A lot of sharks normally
seen off Cape Cod are here.
MEGAN: This is
really interesting
because a lot of these--
so, Broken Tail,
Scary Shark, Mr. Frisky,
a lot of them were like
kind of our resident sharks
for years.
They didn't even, we didn't,
don't have any detections
of them this year.
HEATHER: Didn't even see them.
MEGAN: Mm-mm.
HEATHER: Yeah.
MEGAN: It's really interesting
that some of these guys
seem to have kind of shifted.
GREG: I'm also seeing
a lot of South Carolina fish...
MEGAN: Lot of shifts.
GREG: ...as well, you know?
But not a lot of big adults.
NARRATOR: Plotting
the detections on a map,
the scale of the white shark
presence becomes clear.
GREG: They're kind of just
blowing up everywhere
at the same time.
HEATHER: We thought
it was quite amazing
how many sharks we saw up here.
Um, this year there were
78 of them, 78 individuals,
which is the most
we have seen in Canada
since we started monitoring.
MEGAN: That's crazy.
Off of Cape Cod we detected 120,
if that puts this
in perspective at all.
That's a lot
of activity up here.
NARRATOR: It's evidence Canada
is a white shark hot spot,
particularly for
inexperienced juvenile sharks.
And may explain why Canada
witnessed its first shark bite
in 150 years.
GREG: It's been
a phenomenal year for me.
If you asked me a few years ago,
what do you think about
white sharks in Canada?
I'd say yes, they go there,
but I didn't realize the,
the presence of these animals.
These sharks are spreading out
almost throughout
Canadian waters.
This is an ancient animal.
It's been around
for millions of years.
It's a survivor
because it can adapt,
and it will continue to adapt.
We're going to keep seeing
white sharks off Canada,
and quite possibly
we'll see more.
Captioned by
Side Door Media Services