White shark 'Goodall' tracked moving through popular Caribbean tourist destination
OCEARCH said Goodall's latest stop is just a reminder that white shark migration isn't always linear or predictable.
Nearly 1,400-pound great white ‘Goodall’ pings near Gulf Coast
Coming in at 13 ft 1 in and 1,393 pounds, Goodall is a female great white first tagged on September 30, 2025, and released in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, by the Tancook Islands Marine Field Station team in collaboration with the OCEARCH science and fishing teams. She was recently detected about 9 miles off the Gulf Coast near Port Richey, Florida, on March 17.
BAHAMAS — Goodall, an adult female white shark, is on the move, and she's hanging out in a spot that is surprising researchers for this time of year— the Bahamas.
Goodall was tagged off the coast of Nova Scotia by Tancook Islands Marine Field Station Team in collaboration with OCEARCH back in September 2025.
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Since then, OCEARCH has monitored her movements as she swam 6,000 miles from Canada all the way down to Florida's Gulf Coast and back around out into the Atlantic, where she's now swimming in the Northwest Providence Channel off Grand Bahama Island.
Goodall, a female great white measuring just over 13 feet and nearly 1,400 pounds, was first tagged on Sept. 30th, 2025, and was released in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, by the Tancook Islands Marine Field Station Team, in collaboration with the OCEARCH Science and Fishing Teams (OCEARCH)
"This movement path is a bit unusual," said OCEARCH Scientist John Tyminski, who noted that the only other OCEARCH-tagged white shark to make this detour was Breton back in 2022.
Tyminski said Goodall's movement could be a response to environmental conditions or changing prey availability.
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Deep water channels like the Northwest Providence Channel can serve as migration paths for large fish and marine animals, Tyminski said.
Goodall's latest ping on May 18, 2026 in the Northwest Providence Channel off the Bahamas. (FOX Weather)
"Because white sharks are opportunistic predators, Goodall's route may reflect foraging behavior linked to shifting prey distributions," he said.
At the time of her tagging, Goodall measured in at just over 13 feet and weighed nearly 1,400 pounds. She was named in honor of Dr. Jane Goodall.
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Summer shark migration is underway, with white sharks making their way to the north for cooler waters.
Tyminski said Goodall's latest stop is just a reminder that white shark migration isn't always linear or predictable.
OCEARCH is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to researching and protecting sharks, whales, sea turtles and other ocean life, tagging these animals to track and study their migration habits and behaviors from afar.