Kate Fleming was heading out to watch the sunset on Hornby Island Saturday (April 29) when she was told there was a shark a little ways up the beach.

Fleming, who was visiting Hornby and had never seen a shark before, jumped at the opportunity.

The shark had washed up dead on the shore just north of Phipp鈥檚 Point.

Since then, members of Facebook group Field Naturalists of Vancouver Island identified the shark as a bluntnosed sixgill shark, and also speculated it might have been pregnant.

鈥淚t is a large shark, but considered to be lethargic and really a non-aggressive shark, so nothing to be scared of,鈥� explained Dr. Jackie King, the research scientist in charge of sharks with the the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Bluntnosed sixgill sharks are just one of 14 shark species that can be found along B.C.鈥檚 coast.

While they can be found worldwide, King said adult sixgill sharks can be found in the deep waters off the west coast of Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii.

What鈥檚 unique, King said, is that pregnant bluntnosed sixgill sharks will come into areas such as the Strait of Georgia, some deepwater inlets of the west coast of Vancouver Island and Puget Sound to the south of B.C. to give birth. That鈥檚 why it can be common to find juvenile sharks in the area.

She said Hornby Island is a well known area to see juvenile sixgill sharks. The DFO isn鈥檛 going to be investigating the shark鈥檚 cause of death.

鈥淪harks are fish, and periodically, they do wash up on shore,鈥� explained King, noting that from the photos she鈥檚 seen the shark is either a juvenile that was ready to leave the area or a pregnant shark.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not common, but it鈥檚 also not uncommon to have found a pregnant female washed up on shore. Part of which could be interaction with something (or it) could have been stressful trying to give birth.鈥�

If people on B.C.鈥檚 coast do find sharks, dead or alive, they鈥檙e asked to report it to the .

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lauren.collins@blackpress.ca
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