A B.C. woman got the experience of a lifetime this week after a great white shark washed up on a beach near her home.
Lesley Assu said she and her husband, Jamie Clark, went down to the beach to take a look at the shark at the Halibut Bright Rest Area in Haida Gwaii.
“We just went down to look at it and check it out and see if there were any signs of a struggle or a fight,” said Assu, who is from Skidegate, a Haida community in Haida Gwaii.
Assu said the shark appeared to have died recently since it was still bleeding from its dorsal fin down to its tail and its body looked fresh.
“It was huge,” said Assu, recalling that the shark was cut open when they arrived and it had at least one dead seal in its mouth.
Assu said the shark was found close to her home and it wasn’t the first time that a great white has washed up.
But she said it’s “phenomenal” to have had a close encounter with a great white shark.
“I never thought in my life I would be able to walk up and see a great white in my life,” said Assu. “It’s not something that happens, and that’s why we had to go down and see it and just to witness that.”
The Fisheries Department said its scientists confirmed the species by analyzing its tooth shape and the shape of its tail fin.
The department said in a statement the male shark had been feeding on seals, a common prey for great whites.
It said the sharks are rare in B.C. waters, but sightings are not unheard of and they can be found from the Gulf of California up to the Gulf of Alaska and in B.C.’s outer coastal waters.
The department said many people believe they’ve seen a great white in B.C. waters, but it usually turns out to be a salmon shark, a close relative to the great white.
Because of climate change, the statement says, those out on B.C. waters can expect to see more great whites in the area in the coming decades.
Assu said sharks play an important role in Haida Gwaii culture and it’s sad to see one dead.
“And you wonder what happened to it, and you just want to take a little piece of that, and just to be beside it, like my husband was in the water with it, and just standing beside it and looking in its mouth and just even feeling its body is something that you would never, ever have the chance to do,” said Assu.