A Canadian fish ecologist has hypothesized that Passamaquoddy Bay near the US-Canada border has the “greatest aggregation of large, breeding sharks in the 18- to 20-foot range of any place along the East Coast”.

According to the Bangor Daily News, Steve Crawford from the University of Guelph in Ontario has been part of a 5-year study on the sharks. During that study, he’s completed 122 interviews with local knowledge holders about great white sharks, all within a 3-year period.

Crawford believes that the sharks in the area are mating due to local testimony of sharks exhibiting behaviors that correlate with that time in their life. These behaviors include stationary positions held by sharks as a show of dominance, and territorial behaviors, like following or charging at a boat.

He also says that because of data from sharks tagged with acoustic receivers, there could be up to nearly 1,000 of them in the Passamaquoddy Bay region during a mating season. According to Crawford, 45 Great White Sharks were detected in Passamaquoddy Bay last year. If only 5 percent, or fewer of the sharks are tagged, the number that may have actually come into the bay in 2023 could’ve been around 900.

But some in the scientific community have their reservations about Crawford’s data. While other scientists agree with Crawford’s findings of a growing number of sharks being detected in the bay, scientists say that the number of great white sharks in the region can’t be estimated yet, nor can it be determined if their numbers are increasing or if they are mating.

In addition, Greg Skomal, a senior fisheries biologist at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, stated that there is no way to extrapolate the number of tagged sharks picked up by acoustic receivers to the total number of sharks in the bay.

He did however note that “With the growing abundance of seals over the last two decades, it is reasonable to conclude that more white sharks are likely to be moving into the Gulf of Maine to take advantage of this resource.”

Regardless of the actual number of sharks in the bay, human interactions with sharks should remain the same. Crawford says that “We should leave them alone, if they are setting up territories, and not have people putting themselves at risk.” He said people who are on or near the water need to keep an open eye out for sharks, although he noted they are not “man eaters” and rarely engage with people.

The Maine Department of Marine Resources advises that, while the relative risk of a shark attack is very small, the risks should be minimized.

To read the original Bangor Daily News article, click here.