Most of those attacks that do occur are in the waters off of South Africa and Australia. In Atlantic Canada, there have been four accounts of sharks attacking small boats, three of which have been attributed to the great white shark by positive identification of teeth or tooth fragments found embedded in the hull. The majority of sharks eat fish and invertebrates, while some feed upon marine mammals such as seals and sea lions. Other animals have been found in shark stomachs as well. Most sharks in Atlantic Canada are too small to eat large items, but fishing line, rope, balloons, lobster bands, candy wrappers and an oil filter have been found in stomachs of the porbeagle shark.
Sharks come in a range of sizes.
The basking shark is the largest shark in Atlantic Canada, routinely reaching lengths of 8-9 metres. The largest confirmed great white shark caught in Canada was more than 5 metres long. It was caught off of PEI in 1983. Before this, a white shark was caught in a herring weir in the Bay of Fundy in 1930 which was reported by local fishermen as being 11 metres long. For awhile, this was considered the largest specimen ever caught, but when the jaws were compared to that of other jaw specimens, they were more similar to a shark of around 4.8 metres.