Today@Dal

Posted July 18 by CBC:

Many people have summer rituals, but few people attempt an annual pilgrimage anything like Chris Harvey-Clark when he heads to Baie-Comeau, Que.

The marine biologist and veterinarian at Dalhousie University in Halifax has travelled to the north side of the St. Lawrence River each summer since the late 1990s, looking for the elusive Greenland shark — a four-metre-long predator that can weigh hundreds of kilograms.

"It's hard to know where to start with this animal. It's so amazing. Imagine you're looking out your window, having a morning cup of coffee and a four-metre-long predator crosses your backyard … this is exactly what's been happening with the Greenland shark," he told CBC Radio's Mainstreet.

"The fact that these animals have been swimming around, literally, off the end of a dock in a small town in Quebec for a long time is amazing. It's one of the compelling parts of this story too. You can have an animal, virtually unknown to science, and there it is, right on your doorstep."

He said low-frequency sounds tend to attract the slow-moving beasts.

There have been reports of Greenland sharks swimming in the St. Lawrence for many years, with fishermen landing one from time to time.

In 2003, a man installing an underwater dock, working with chains, said he saw a big fish swim by. Harvey-Clark and a crew went down and within minutes of their dive, they saw a Greenland shark.

The next year, Harvey-Clark got up close and personal with the deepwater fish. He said, at first, attempts to find the sharks that second year were unsuccessful.

"I've been eyeball to eyeball," he said.

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