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A rare encounter with several juvenile bluntnose sixgill sharks in waters off Vancouver implies the population may be larger than previously thought, says a marine biologist.

Chris Harvey-Clark of Dalhousie University was part of a team of researchers who used a small submarine to explore the waters about a kilometre off the coast and about 100 metres below the surface.

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He said they were surprised to see three juvenile sixgills, in part because the population was thought to have been reduced significantly by an experimental fishery that operated in the 1990s.

“Over all the years I’ve been doing this, since the 1970s, I’ve only seen maybe two or three juveniles. I think that’s what made the experience off downtown Vancouver so amazing,” he said in an interview.

“In thousands of dives I’ve done, I’ve only seen two or three juvenile sixgills. And all of a sudden, bang, in a very short period of time, you see three. To me, that was the dramatic moment that this sub dive led to.”