Tracker shows 13-foot shark swimming north along Atlantic coast
Weighing in at three quarters of a metric tonne, measuring over four metres from nose to tail and swimming more than 3,000 kilometres since the beginning of this year alone, he is the largest shark of his kind ever captured and recorded.
Meet Contender, the northwest Atlantic Ocean's biggest, baddest great white shark on record, who may be headed for Canadian waters some day soon.
First sighted off the Florida-Georgia coast in January, Contender was caught by scientists from global non-profit OCEARCH and fitted with a satellite tracker to monitor his movements.
In the 142 days since, the shark has traced a path south past Daytona Beach, Fla., before disappearing from researchers' radar for weeks at a time in March and then resurfacing in April off the coast of North Carolina.
At last ping on June 7, Contender's GPS shows he was stalking the waters east of Pamlico Sound, on the far side of the Outer Banks islands.
Long-term research by OCEARCH has found great whites like Contender maintain a surprisingly wide range of migration, stretching from the eastern Gulf of Mexico in the south, all the way to the southern coast of Newfoundland, where seals and other 'high-calorie prey' can be found.
Sharks often spend the warmer months off the coasts of Atlantic Canada and New England, before returning to the balmier waters in the south, OCEARCH says. GPS data from 48 different sharks show a high 'site fidelity' as well, meaning they often return to the same areas year after year.
While this is Contender's first year of contributing data to the project, his path so far has him tracking north, and if he follows the traditional routes, the beast that OCEARCH calls the 'ultimate ocean warrior' may find himself in Canadian territory later this summer.
'Stay tuned as we continue following Contender on his journey to help protect sharks and the ocean ecosystem!' his profile on the organization's shark tracker reads.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
You can slow cognitive decline as you age, large study finds. Here's how
At 62, Phyllis Jones felt trapped in darkness. She was traumatized by her mother's recent death, ongoing pandemic stress and an increasingly toxic work environment. A sudden panic attack led to a medical leave. Her depression worsened until the day her 33-year-old son sadly told her, 'Mom, I didn't think I would have to be your caregiver at this stage in your life.' 'For me, that was the wake-up call,' Jones, now 66, told CNN. 'That's when I found the POINTER study and my life changed. What I accomplished during the study was phenomenal — I'm a new person.' The Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk, or U.S. POINTER study, is the largest randomized clinical trial in the United States designed to examine whether lifestyle interventions can protect cognitive function in older adults. 'These are cognitively healthy people between the ages of 60 and 79 who, to be in the study, had to be completely sedentary and at risk for dementia due to health issues such as prediabetes and borderline high blood pressure,' said principal investigator Laura Baker, a professor of gerontology, geriatrics and internal medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Approximately one-half of the 2,111 study participants attended 38 structured team meetings over two years in local neighborhoods near Chicago, Houston, Winston-Salem, Sacramento, California, and Providence, Rhode Island. During each session, a trained facilitator provided guidance on how to exercise and eat for the brain, and explained the importance of socialization, the use of brain-training games, and the basics of brain health. The team leader also held the group accountable for logging blood pressure and other vitals. Physical and cognitive exams by a physician occurred every six months. At six team meetings, the other half of the study's participants learned about brain health and were encouraged to select lifestyle changes that best suited their schedules. This group was self-guided, with no goal-directed coaching. These participants also received physical and cognitive exams every six months. The two-year results of the US$50 million study, funded by the Alzheimer's Association, were simultaneously presented Monday at the 2025 Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Toronto and published in the journal JAMA. 'We found people in the structured program appeared to delay normal cognitive aging by one to nearly two years over and above the self-guided group — people who did not receive the same degree of support,' Baker said. 'However, the self-guided group improved their cognitive scores over time as well.' Exercise, diet and socializing are key Exercise was the first challenge. Like the other groups across the country, Jones and her Aurora, Illinois, team received YMCA memberships and lessons on how to use the gym equipment. Jones was told to use aerobic exercise to raise her heart rate for 30 minutes a day while adding strength training and stretching several times a week. At first, it wasn't easy. The study participants wore fitness trackers that monitored their activity, Jones said. 'After that first 10 minutes, I was sweating and exhausted,' she said. 'But we went slow, adding 10 minutes at a time, and we kept each other honest. Now I just love to work out.' Four weeks later, teams were given a new challenge — beginning the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, or MIND diet. The diet combines the best of the Mediterranean diet with the salt restrictions of the DASH diet, which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. 'They gave us a refrigerator chart with foods to limit and foods to enjoy,' Jones said. 'We had to eat berries and vegetables most days, including green leafy veggies, which was a separate item. We had to have 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil once every day.' Foods to limit included fried food, processed meat, dairy, cheese and butter. Restrictions were also in place for sugary sweets. 'But we could have dessert four times a week,' Jones added. 'That's awesome because you're not completely depriving yourself.' Another pillar of the program was requiring study participants to familiarize themselves with their vital signs, Wake Forest's Baker said. 'If at any point we asked them, 'What's your average blood pressure?' they should be able to tell us,' she said. 'We encouraged people to monitor their blood sugar as well.' Later came brain training, via memberships to a popular, Web-based cognitive training app. While some scientists say the benefits of such online brain programs have yet to be proven, Jones said she enjoyed the mental stimulation. Becoming better at socializing was another key part of the program. The researchers tasked teams with assignments, such as speaking to strangers or going out with friends. 'I found my best friend, Patty Kelly, on my team,' Jones said. 'At 81, she's older than me, but we do all sorts of things together — in fact, she's coming with me to Toronto when I speak at the Alzheimer's conference. 'Isolation is horrible for your brain,' she added. 'But once you get to a point where you are moving and eating healthy, your energy level changes, and I think you automatically become more social.' As the study progressed, the researchers reduced check-ins to twice a month, then once a month, Baker said. 'We were trying to get people to say, 'I am now a healthy person,' because if you believe that, you start making decisions which agree with the new perception of yourself,' she said. 'So in the beginning, we were holding their hands, but by the end, they were flying on their own,' Baker added. 'And that was the whole idea — get them to fly on their own.' 'Brain health is a long game' Because researchers tracked each team closely, the study has a wealth of data that has yet to be mined. 'On any given day, I could go into our web-based data system and see how much exercise someone's doing, whether they've logged into brain training that day, what's their latest MIND diet score, and whether they'd attended the last team meeting,' Baker said. 'We also have sleep data, blood biomarkers, brain scans and other variables, which will provide more clarity on which parts of the intervention were most successful.' Digging deeper into the data is important, Baker says, because the study has limitations, such as the potential for a well-known phenomenon called the practice effect. 'Even though we use different stimuli within tests, the act of taking a test over and over makes you more familiar with the situation — you know where the clinic is, where to park, you're more comfortable with your examiner,' she said. 'You're not really smarter, you're just more relaxed and comfortable, so therefore you do better on the test,' Baker said. 'So while we're thrilled both groups in US POINTER appear to have improved their global cognition (thinking, learning and problem-solving), we have to be cautious in our interpretations.' It's important to note the POINTER study was not designed to provide the more immersive lifestyle interventions needed for people with early stages of Alzheimer's, said Dr. Dean Ornish, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Ornish published a June 2024 clinical trial that found a strict vegan diet, daily exercise, structured stress reduction and frequent socialization could often stop the decline or even improve cognition in those already experiencing from early-stage Alzheimer's disease, not just for those at risk for it. 'The US POINTER randomized clinical trial is a landmark study showing that moderate lifestyle changes in diet, exercise, socialization and more can improve cognition in those at risk for dementia,' said Ornish, creator of the Ornish diet and lifestyle medicine program and coauthor of 'Undo It!: How Simple Lifestyle Changes Can Reverse Most Chronic Diseases.' 'It complements our randomized clinical trial findings which found that more intensive multiple lifestyle changes often improve cognition in those already diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer's disease,' Ornish said. 'But the US POINTER study showed that more moderate lifestyle changes may be sufficient to help prevent it.' In reality, two years isn't sufficient to track brain changes over time, said study coauthor Maria Carillo, chief science officer of the Alzheimer's Association. 'We really want to make recommendations that are evidence based,' Carillo told CNN. 'That's why we have invested another $40 million in a four-year follow-up, and I believe over 80% of the original participants have joined. 'Brain health is a long game,' she added. 'It's hard to track, but over time, change can be meaningful.' By Sandee LaMotte, CNN
CBC
2 days ago
- CBC
Nordspace to launch first rocket out of St. Lawrence in August
One small step for NordSpace is one giant leap for Newfoundland and Labrador — as the aerospace company plans to launch Canada's first commercial rocket to space from the town of St. Lawrence next month. Nordspace founder and CEO, Rahul Goel, said the launch will be a test of the company's single-engine rocket system — a 16-meter-long rocket created using 3D-printed metal. "The launch this summer will be a single-engine suborbital test flight, which will be about 30 seconds," Goel told CBC's Newfoundland Morning. Nordspace eyed the Newfoundland town of St. Lawrence because of its position in achieving the right orbital inclinations, Goel said. The company plans to build two launch pads, according to the town — one at Deep Cove and another along Lighthouse Road. Ahead of the launch, a road will be built in St. Lawrence, but Goel said most of the equipment will be brought in from the company's main facility in Ontario. "We're literally bringing our rocket, bringing our systems while the roads are being built, and it's quite a sight to see," he said. Goel said St. Lawrence will eventually be home to a spaceport complex. "It's going to eventually consist of about two launch pads and ground infrastructure like radar tracking, rocket and satellite communication systems and all of that," he said. The first test launch is scheduled to take place during the last week of August. While the rockets won't carry humans, they will carry payloads or small satellites into low orbit, between 500 and 1,000 kilometres into space. "We're very excited as individuals, and as a company, to deliver what we consider a national victory for Canada," Goel said.
CBC
2 days ago
- CBC
Ship noise in Arctic silences narwhals, alters their movements, study says
New research on narwhals in Nunavut's Eclipse Sound suggests the animals may be more sensitive to shipping noise than scientists previously believed, and that they change their behaviour when ships are nearby. The study, published earlier this month in the journal Nature, says narwhal stop echolocating and will vacate an area when exposed to low-pitched ship noise. It also says the marine mammals are sensitive to sounds more than 20 kilometres away. "It seemed to be an understood fact prior to our research that narwhal were only affected in close range, but when you speak to the hunters and the elders, that's just not been the case," said Alex Ootoowak, a researcher from Pond Inlet, Nunavut, and one of the co-authors of the study. He is with the Oceans North acoustic monitoring program. The study backs up hunters' observations around mining projects in the region, such as the now-closed Nanisivik mine, and their belief that narwhals are more sensitive to shipping noise than existing marine shipping noise guidelines recognize, said Ootoowak. "People seem to appreciate that our research is proving what's long been understood and known here," said Ootoowak. The research will be used to assess and mitigate impacts of mine shipping, cruise ships and yachts trying to enter the Northwest Passage, he said. For the last decade, Oceans North partnered with Pond Inlet's Mittimatalik Hunter Trappers Organization (MHTO) and the California-based Scripps Institution of Oceanography to study how narwhal react to ship noise in Eclipse Sound, near Pond Inlet, where they return each summer to feed in deep, plentiful waters. According to the new study, narwhal numbers in Eclipse Sound in summer appear to have declined by about 90 per cent in the last two decades, from an estimated 20,200 animals in 2004 to 2,081 animals in 2021. Ootoowak calls the change over the years "sad." As a teenager, his dad would take him on long trips to hunt and live off the land. The waters were so plentiful that sleep would be an issue. "You're just constantly hunting and watching and enjoying the views of hundreds and hundreds of narwhal pass by," he said. "I want the later generations to see what I saw," he said. The researchers also state that between 2015 to 2019, there was a 384 per cent increase in the number of vessels transiting through the Eclipse Sound — with 80 per cent of those vessels connected to regional mining activity, and the other 20 per cent to tourism. Inuit hunters in the region were the first to notice the changes in narwhal surface behaviour and population numbers as the first shipments of ore went out from Baffinland's Mary River Mine in 2015, said Kristin Westdal, science director at Oceans North and another of the report's co-authors. She said narwhal were spending less time diving, a behaviour usually indicative of feeding, and changing direction of travel when they encounter a ship. The data can help answer the question of how much noise is too much for the animals, she said. "It's interesting and also alarming when you can pinpoint that position at which the animals stop talking or disappear from that habitat," she said. The research will inform the interim management plan for Tallurutiup Imanga National Marine Conservation Area, as well as future protected areas, according to Westdal. She said it will also be used by the Nunavut Impact Review Board when looking at projects like the Mary River Mine. Studying echolocation The researchers used echolocation clicks of narwhals and satellite data to measure the distance of ships from their recorders. They analyzed how narwhal responded to the sound of ships passing through the area. "These echolocation clicks are associated with important functions like foraging, finding food or navigating," said Joshua Jones, a project scientist overseeing the research with Oceans North and the MHTO. Previous studies found impacts within 10 kilometres of ships, and "strong avoidance" among narwhals of areas within one kilometre of passing ships, the study states. The new research suggests narwhals are even more sensitive to sound than other species they've been compared to such as killer whales or dolphins, and show behavioural changes when ships are within 20 kilometres, said Jones. Narwhals are sensitive to noise below 1 kHz, said Jack Ewing, staff research associate at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California in San Diego and another of the report's co-authors. That's a lower pitch than previous research has suggested the animals were senstive to. Narhwals also react to broadband sound pressure levels well below 120 dB, Ewing said.
