A first-of-its-kind shark study is making waves in Passamaquoddy Bay this summer—and community volunteers are needed to help make history.
From July 19 to 26, the inaugural Passamaquoddy Bay White Shark Week will bring together scientists, Indigenous leaders, and local residents for an intensive community-led survey in search of something that’s never been documented before: the courtship or mating of great white sharks.
The initiative is being led by Dr. Stephen Crawford, a fish ecologist and integrative biology professor at the University of Guelph, who has spent the past five years collecting interviews and observations from people living and working along the Atlantic coast from Florida to Quebec.
Based on hundreds of these interviews, Crawford now believes that Passamaquoddy Bay may be a key mating ground for breeding-size white sharks—one of the most elusive aspects of the species’ life cycle.
“Nobody has ever documented mating by white sharks anywhere in their nine different populations globally,” said Crawford. “Based on the available evidence from Indigenous and Local knowledge systems, we have a decent chance of finding and recording something special in Passamaquoddy Bay.”
Volunteers with access to boats and drones are being asked to assist with shoreline and on-the-water surveys in several key areas around Passamaquoddy Bay, including Campobello Island, Head Harbour Passage, L’Etete Passage, Grand Manan, and waters off Deer Island and St. Andrews. Drones can be used to scan the water from above, while boat crews will look for signs of large sharks—particularly the 5.5+ metre adults that have been known to frequent the area in summer.
The effort is driven by what Crawford calls a “homegrown hypothesis” from the communities themselves.
“This is not simply ‘citizen science,’” he explained. “It’s Indigenous and Local communities, who are already very savvy and know the place they live very well, working with scientists to do science together from start to finish.”
Crawford said that some community members have already reported witnessing behaviours that may indicate courtship or even male territoriality—an area of white shark behaviour that has never been studied in the Northwest Atlantic.
“Safety has to be first,” Crawford noted. “We shouldn’t be interfering with these animals if they are courting or mating.”
Once all data has been gathered, it will be shared in a public web conference so participants and the wider public can learn from the findings. Volunteers interested in joining the survey team can contact Dr. Crawford directly by email (scrawfor@uoguelph.ca) with their name, phone number, availability, boating and drone experience, and areas they could survey.
This community event is part of a larger white shark knowledge program led by Crawford, which concludes in 2026. That program aims to document and amplify the ecological insights of Indigenous and Local knowledge holders, many of whom have passed on observations and stories about white sharks for generations.
“We already possess clear archaeological evidence that pre-contact Indigenous cultures from Maryland to Quebec have had special relationships with white sharks,” Crawford saic, noting that fossilized shark teeth have been found in ceremonial burial sites across the region.
For the communities involved, White Shark Week is a chance to blend traditional knowledge with modern science—and to do so on their own terms.
“The community members recognized the rare opportunity to create their own non-sensationalized Shark Week and make scientific history,” Crawford said.
For residents of Charlotte County, New Brunswick and Washington County, Maine, it’s also a rare opportunity to take part in what could become a landmark moment in global shark research.
Volunteers are needed to survey any of the following Passamaquoddy Bay regions:
- Outer Campobello – Lubec to Head Harbour Lightstation
- Cobscook Channel – Lubec to Cobscook Bay
- South River – Between Campobello and Deer Island, from Indian Island to Sandy/Spruce Islands
- North River – East of Deer Island from St. Helena/Bean Islands to L’Etete Passage
- Archipelago – L’Etete Passage to Pea Point Island Lighthouse
- Borderline – Eastport to Robbinston and the Huntsman area
- St. Croix Estuary – Robbinston to St. Croix Lighthouse and McVicar Island
- North Deer – Calder’s Head to L’Etete Passage
- Nor’West Corner – St. Andrews to Dick’s Island (including Ministers, Hospital, and Hardwood Islands)
- Nor’East Corner – Dick’s Island to L’Etete Passage (including Hog and Long Island)Shoreline observations, both with and without drones, are also encouraged.
