'Your playground is their backyard': Long-time N.S. shark charter operator warning of white sharks

While the downpour of rain Friday made for a poor beach day, long-time shark charter Art Gaetan went to Carter's Beach in Port Mouton, N.S., to talk about shark safety

An incident he saw there last September, sticking out in his memory.

“It was low-tide and people were all in the water, splashing around, he recalls, and then the seals freaked out and come out of the water and onto the rocks.”

A sure sign, he says, of a predator in the water. But he says people kept on swimming.

“Twenty years ago, you went to the beach, the one thing that maybe you had to worry about was a riptide,” he says.

“But times have changed, and now the general public has to be educated. They have to know and understand that when they go to a beach now, there are things that they need to look for.”

Gaetan has spent decades finding, photographing, and filming sharks, including white sharks, in his years as a shark charter boat operator.

He’s also been fascinated by sharks since he first saw a dog shark in Cape Breton when he was four years old.

His sightings while out on the water are submitted to various agencies for researchers every year.

Gaetan says with more white sharks appearing off the Maritime coast in the past several years, Maritimers need to be more “shark smart.”

Like all predators, white sharks follow food -- which is why Gaetan especially wants people to stay away from areas where seals are present.

He’s worried it’s only a matter of time before a beachgoer could someday be injured in a close encounter with a shark.

“You know what? I hope it doesn't happen, God I hope it doesn't happen, but I just think we're living on borrowed time with that,” he says, “I think if anywhere it's going to happen, it's going to be here (Carter’s Beach).”

Last year, he took photos of large white sharks by his boat, less than 5 kilometres off Port Mouton, evidence of the ocean predator’s presence in Nova Scotia waters.

Gaetan says he's urged the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans to ramp up shark education and post caution signs at beaches where sharks could be present.

But he says he’s been ignored.

“It's falling on deaf ears,” he says, “I feel we should be proactive instead of reactive.”

“This year in particular, the white sharks are up extremely early, at least, most of the tagging is showing this,” he adds.

Shark tracking done by global research non-profit OCEARCH shows seven white sharks, which have been tagged by scientists, off the Nova Scotia coast as of Friday.

“I do think that we're seeing a lot more white sharks than we have in the past,” says Fred Whoriskey, head of Dalhousie University’s Ocean Tracking Network.

Whoriskey says part of the reason for that is a rebound in the species population.

“Historically, these animals occurred in all of these areas, and (then) their population distributions were driven downwards,” he explains.

“Basically, because these animals were harvested,” he continues, “and it’s taken a long time for the population to come back.”

“Now the populations rebounding…and their prey, things like seals, are abundant up here, (so) they’re beginning to re-find their way back into our areas.”

His advice for beach and ocean goers, be “shark smart.”

“There are things that we do to be smart, just like we would be in a national park where there are bears or other animals that we might be fearful (of),” Whoriskey says.

That includes:

• swimming in groups
• avoiding swimming during dusk, dawn, or at night
• avoiding areas populated by seals
• avoiding making a lot of splashing or frantic motions in the water (which sharks can interpret as injured prey, he says)

Although, he adds, most Nova Scotia beaches don’t have seals around, which means they don’t have much to interest sharks.

Gaetan says he’s not trying to keep people off beaches, he just wants greater awareness for visitors and residents alike.

“Because you have to remember,” he says, “your playground, is their backyard.”

He wants governments need to do more to reinforce that message.

When asked by CTV News if it would consider launching an awareness campaign, or installing caution signs at beaches, the Department of Fisheries and oceans didn’t provide a response by deadline.