White shark (Carcharodon carcharias) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 4

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Distribution

Global range

The white shark is widely distributed in sub-polar to tropical seas of both hemispheres, from 60°N to 60°S, but it is most frequently observed and captured in inshore temperate waters over the continental shelves of the western North Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, southern Africa, southern Australia, New Zealand, and the eastern North Pacific (Figure 2, Compagno 2001). In the western North Atlantic, the white shark ranges from Hare Bay, Newfoundland, to northern Brazil (Templeman 1963, Gadig and Rosa 1996). In the eastern North Pacific, it ranges from the central Bering Sea to Mazatlan, Mexico (Kato 1965, Cook pers. comm. 1987). This species occurs sporadically in Canadian waters, known from only 47 confirmed or probable records since 1874 (Table 1, Figure 3).

Figure 2. Global distribution of white sharks. Map source: Compagno 2001.

Please note that Table 1 has been split in two sections: Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

RAM=R. Aidan Martin

The northernmost record of a white shark in the eastern North Pacific is a single white shark approximately 4 m in total length observed feeding on salmon in the spring of 1985 off Cordova, Alaska (latitude 60°17’N). Species confirmation is supported by the carcass of a sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) bearing distinctive bites of a white shark (R.A.Martin-author, unpublished data). At least 15 other specimens have been reported from Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska (Bonham 1942; LeMier 1951; Pike 1962; Royce 1963; Karinen et al. 1985; Coad 1995; Collier et al. 1996).

The northernmost record for a white shark in the western North Atlantic is a 3.7 m specimen caught in August 1956 on a cod trap leader set at a depth of 25 m off Ireland Bight, Hare Bay, Newfoundland (latitude 51°18’N) (Templeman 1963). Mollomo (1998) gives 44 other records of this species from Maine and Atlantic Canada waters.

Canadian range

In Canada’s Pacific waters, the white shark has been recorded from Esperanza Inlet and Hecate Strait (Pike 1962; R.A. Martin-author, unpublished data). White shark records from British Columbia consist almost exclusively of strandings on the leeward shores of the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) during late autumn and early winter months (Figure 3a, Table 1b), plus a single attack on commercial fishing gear (Collier et al. 1996). Lack of strandings from seaward shores of the Queen Charlottes may reflect sparse human settlement rather than distributional or stranding bias of white sharks.

Figure 3. Locality, month, and total length of white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) captures, strandings, attacks, and reports from Canadian waters. A. British Columbia. B. Atlantic Canada.

Off Atlantic Canada, the white shark has been recorded from the northeast Newfoundland Shelf, the Strait of Belle Isle, the St. Pierre Bank, Sable Island Bank, the Forchu Misaine Bank, in St. Margaret’s Bay, off Cape La Have, in Passamaquoddy Bay, in the Bay of Fundy, in the Northumberland Strait, and in the Laurentian Channel as far inland as the Portneuf River Estuary (Putnam 1874; Piers 1934; Vladykov and McKenzie 1935; Day and Fisher 1954; Leim and Day 1959; Vladykov and McAllister 1961; Templeman 1963; Arnold 1972; Molomo 1998). White shark records from Atlantic Canada (Figure 3b, Table 1a) consist primarily of incidental captures plus four cases of attacks on boats (Templeman 1963; Mollomo 1998). Of 30 Atlantic Canada records for which the month is known, 20 occurred during the month of August, the remainder occurred during June, July, or September with an additional record in November and one in December. Clustering of white shark records in Atlantic Canada during late summer months suggests they may be correlated with the seasonal shift of the warm Gulf Stream toward the coast (Hogg 1992).

Collectively, the foregoing suggests that the Canadian component of this species distribution represents the northern fringe of their distribution.