Scientists track basking sharks to Cuba, Bermuda

New Brunswick researchers are tracking Canada’s largest fish from the Bay of Fundy to the southern seas around Cuba and Bermuda.

The basking shark can range in size from seven to 12 metres, making them the largest fish in Canada. However, little is known about the giant fish.

The basking sharks are also very rare. The Atlantic basking shark is listed as a species at risk by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.

Last summer, Andrew Westgate, a marine biologist, scoured the Bay of Fundy searching for basking sharks.

He and a team of marine biologists were looking to tag the sharks with a global positioning system tracking device that would allow the scientists to track the sharks' movement.

"Even though they're the largest fish that live in our part of the world, we know very, very little about them," he said.

The team managed to tag six basking sharks and last week the first results came in.

One of the sharks was found north of Bermuda in the Sargasso Sea and the other was tracked just south of Cuba.

"We were really surprised. We had some expectations that they would leave the Bay of Fundy but we really didn't know where they would go," he said.

The marine biologists are still determining what the sharks are doing in the southern waters.

Laurie Murison, the executive director of the Whale and Seabird Research Station, said it's hard to say whether the sharks are migrating or just continually roaming the ocean.

Murison has been studying basking sharks for more than 20 years. Despite her work, she said there is still little known about Canada's largest fish.

"It has a lot to do with the fact that they're not seen for most of the year," she said.

Results from the other four sharks are expected in May.