West Coast Now
A group of B.C. divers is sharing some incredible footage of a very rare encounter with the bluntnose sixgill shark in Port Alberni.
Four men, including expert divers Matteo Endrizzi and Garrett Clement, decided to go on a dive in the Alberni Inlet to check out a shipwreck about 100 feet below the surface.
Speaking to CHEK News, Clement said, “We just went along the side of the shipwreck. We were just looking down, and all of a sudden, someone’s light beam caught an outline of a shark swimming along the bottom of the shipwreck.”
“This mysterious species spends most of its time patrolling the bottom of the ocean. Encounters are incredibly rare, divers can go their entire career without catching a glimpse of this elusive creature.”
Garrett Clement
The divers were well-informed enough to identify the sixgill shark and know it was not a serious threat to them, enabling them to stick around and capture incredible shots of the massive fish.
Clement shared this video of their dive in which you can see the shark swimming past the shipwreck and the divers cheering with glee at their discovery.
In the Youtube description, he wrote: “This mysterious species spends most of its time patrolling the bottom of the ocean. Encounters are incredibly rare, divers can go their entire career without catching a glimpse of this elusive creature.”
“If anyone does come across one, it’s a rare occurrence, and I definitely encourage them to reach out to DFO so that data can be recorded and we can get more information on these really cool creatures.”
Matteo Endrizzi
The sighting of a sixgill shark is extraordinary as they reside up to 2500 metres below the ocean’s surface, and there had never been a sighting of this creature before in the Alberni Inlet.
“So grateful to have spent a couple of minutes with this juvenile that was approximately 2m (6 feet) long … This was a bucket list event for me and many other divers, and I’m spoiled the encounter was as eventful as it was!” Endrizzi wrote on his Instagram alongside his jaw-droppingly close photos of the shark.
Endrizzi encourages others to reach out to Fisheries and Oceans Canada if they spot a shark, just as he and his diving crew did. “If anyone does come across one, it’s a rare occurrence, and I definitely encourage them to reach out to DFO so that data can be recorded and we can get more information on these really cool creatures,” said Endrizzi.
The DFO’s website offers resources to document and report sightings, identify various shark species on the B.C. coast, and links to the important research being conducted by the Canadian Pacific Shark Research Lab.
