Update on the increased presence of the white shark in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

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Cap-Chat, Québec, August 31, 2025 — A white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) was detected off Cap-Chat on August 30, according to the Ocearch Shark Tracker. The shark, a male named Dold, was tagged by Ocearch off Florida in February, when it measured 3.4 m (11’ 2”) and weighed 345 kg (761 lbs).

The detection site (49.158186, -66.695916) lies about 35 km from the line between Pointe-des-Monts (Côte-Nord) and the Gaspé Peninsula, a boundary widely considered the limit of the Estuary before it opens into the Gulf. This places the shark virtually “knocking on the door” of the Estuary and represents the most upriver verified presence in the St. Lawrence in more than seven decades. The last confirmed specimen inside the Estuary was landed at Rivière-Portneuf in 1949.

White sharks have become increasingly visible in the Gulf of St. Lawrence during the last decade, but records this far upriver remain rare. Ocearch detections were also reported in 2023 along Québec’s lower Côte-Nord, where, as in the maritime Estuary, waters are colder and seals are less abundant than in the central or southern parts of the Gulf. In addition, white shark teeth found on beaches along the Côte-Nord, some discovered as early as the 1940s, as well as a heavily eroded tooth recovered near Baie-Trinité and examined by the ORS in 2019, had likely been shed long before their discovery. These finds show that the white shark frequented the region long before the current rise in sightings and the advent of accelerated climate change.

“While we cannot yet say whether the shark was entering or leaving the Estuary, this is the closest we have come to validating a presence in over 70 years. Evidence from modern detections over the last decade and long-shed teeth suggests these sharks have frequented these waters long before the advent of accelerated climate change, and if their population continues to grow, incursions into the Estuary may become more frequent.”

Gallant also wishes to acknowledge the essential contribution of Ocearch and thank the organisation for the spirit of collaboration and transparency with which it shares its tagging data. By making this information available both to the scientific community and the public at large, Ocearch demonstrates how science can serve knowledge and collective awareness. Gallant emphasises that shark research should not be conducted in isolation but in a spirit of collaboration. By pooling efforts, knowledge, and resources, researchers can better serve shark conservation and strengthen outreach.

Please note that ORS will not be giving interviews on this subject. While the detection is of scientific interest, it does not on its own represent a significant or unusual event, for the reasons outlined above.

Thank you for your understanding and for helping ensure that information about sharks is shared factually and without sensationalism.

Jeffrey Gallant, M. Sc.
Founder and Scientific Director
St. Lawrence Shark Observatory (ORS)

The St. Lawrence Shark Observatory (ORS), Canada’s first non-governmental organisation and registered charity dedicated to sharks, is celebrating in 2025 the 25th anniversary of its first field expedition, which also marks the beginning of its existence. This series of pioneering explorations in the North Atlantic, the Saguenay Fjord, and the St. Lawrence Estuary led to the official creation of the Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Research Group (GEERG) in 2003. It also witnessed the first cage dives with pelagic sharks in Canada in 2000 and, in 2003, the very first natural encounters with the Greenland shark, launching a decade of research and several groundbreaking scientific publications on this elusive and little-known species. Renamed the St. Lawrence Shark Observatory (ORS) in 2023, the organisation today focuses its volunteer-based research and conservation not only on the Greenland shark but also on all shark species inhabiting the Gulf and Estuary of the St. Lawrence, the Saguenay Fjord, Atlantic Canada, and the Arctic Ocean.