A diver was taken to the hospital following an encounter with a great white shark in Percé, Quebec, located in the Gaspé region of the province. 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 immediately put into action. The injured individual received initial medical aid at the scene before being swiftly transported to the hospital for further assessment. It was confirmed that the diver’s life was not at risk.
The victim was on the vessel Yoda, a Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary dive boat, according to the Canadian Coast Guard. However, as of Wednesday afternoon, details about the extent of the injuries sustained by the victim were not yet confirmed.
Witnessing the incident, boat captain Kevin Dubé described the situation where a distress call was received regarding the injured diver. The individual was brought ashore using a dinghy, and medical personnel were on standby to transport them to the hospital promptly.
Expressing gratitude on Facebook, Plongée Percé thanked all those involved in the rescue mission and announced the suspension of diving activities for the remainder of the season.
The summer witnessed an increase in sightings of great white sharks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off the coasts of the Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands. Ocearch, a nonprofit organization aiding shark studies, is tracking four sharks named Webster, Ernst, Bella, and Nori. Notably, Nori was spotted south of Anticosti Island, while Ernst and Bella were swimming northeast of the Magdalen Islands.
Ocearch’s founder, Chris Fischer, highlighted the recovery of the great white shark population, which had been severely depleted from the 1970s to the 1990s. He emphasized the importance of these sharks in maintaining a balanced marine ecosystem by regulating seal populations and protecting fish stocks.
Caroline Miri, a marine biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, emphasized the critical role of sharks in the marine food chain. Ocearch has tagged approximately 115 sharks across the Atlantic region, spanning from Florida to Newfoundland and Labrador.
The St. Lawrence Shark Observatory attributed the recent surge in great white shark sightings to improved documentation and the species’ recovery from being endangered in Canadian waters. These sharks are now regular visitors to the gulf and the Canadian Atlantic, particularly in areas abundant with grey seals, such as during the seal breeding season.
Sandra Gauthier, director of the Exploramer science museum, noted that encountering sharks in the gulf waters has become more common due to the increased shark population. She emphasized the need to coexist with these wild animals and highlighted the rarity of shark attacks in Canada, with only 15 confirmed incidents recorded over more than 330 years according to the Canadian Shark Attack Registry.
