Kara, the great white shark, tracked near Vancouver Island again

Kara, the great white shark, was tracked swimming near Vancouver Island again, after being detected last month in the same area.

Kara, a four-metre-long great white shark, was seen near Vancouver Island roughly 90 kilometres south, off the coast of Oregon, Dr. Michael Domeier, director of the Marine Conservation Science Institute (MCSI), wrote in an Instagram post on April 25.

“She’s cruising the continental shelf break at the moment. She’s full of surprises since I thought she’d be halfway to Hawaii by now!” said Domeier in his post.

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This is the second time the large shark has visited near Vancouver Island in less than two months. MCSI detected Kara in the same area back in March.

“It’s a big ocean out there,” said Andrew Trites, director of the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of British Columbia.

Trites’ research focuses on the prey of the great white sharks, like seals and sea lions, and says that Kara was spotted at the continental shelf break, which could be because she was feeding.

“If you drain the ocean…we’ve got our mountains…but then it looks like a big flat plain, and then it drops off into really deep water. So we call it the big continental shelf break,” said Trites.

He notes that many marine mammals are feeding there, and believes northern fur seals, elephant seals and possibly sea lions are in the area.

Great white sharks aren’t unheard of in B.C. In 2024, a four-metre male shark washed up near the community of Tlell in Haida Gwaii.

Trites says being in an El Niño season could also be a factor.

“We have a major El Niño happening, where the ocean is warming more than just climate change,” said Trites.

“So sharks can come further north. You’ve got lots of prey for them to consume and good locations too for them, so it’s like the perfect storm.

However, the director notes this northern trip could be normal for the great white shark and it’s only being learned about now thanks to improvements in technology.

“We’re essentially putting Fitbits onto wildlife and we’re getting insights into how they’re doing, where they’re going, what they’re up to. We would never know this without the technology,” said Trites.

“Many of these things they’ve done for thousands of years; we’re only learning about this now.”

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