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A 300-kilogram great white shark affectionately known as 'Pumpkin' has been cruising Nova Scotia's Minas Basin to feast on an abundance of seals.
Scientists say the female shark was detected off Cheverie by an acoustic monitoring system that picked up a transmitter placed on it last year.
Fred Whoriskey of the Ocean Tracking Network at Dalhousie University in Halifax says the almost three-metre shark was tagged by researchers with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.
He says it's not surprising that Pumpkin ended up in the area, which is part of the species' natural range and is abundant in the seals the sharks feed on.
He says people shouldn't panic about being in the water with Pumpkin since he's not aware of a single shark attack in Canada.
Whoriskey says there was also an explosion in the seal population off Cape Cod, Mass., last year, leading to a commensurate boost in the number of sharks in the area.
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