White shark occurrence in Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary revealed from acoustic telemetry in an offshore MPA

The outer continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) is characterized by unique bathymetric features that provide critical habitat for marine fauna. Here, we demonstrate the utility of large-scale acoustic telemetry for monitoring an oceanic marine protected area (MPA) and document the first known occurrences of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) within Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS). White sharks were tagged with acoustic transmitters in the western North Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of the United States and Canada. Nine white sharks were detected along the outer shelf ecosystem associated with FGBNMS over a three-year period (2022-2025), with some individuals traveling nearly 3,800 km from original tagging locations. Sharks were detected between January and August at seven natural banks (coral reefs) within FGBNMS, as well as surrounding natural and artificial reefs. Philopatric behavior was observed, with two individuals (1 male, 1 female) returning to the region in multiple years. This study adds to a growing body of evidence demonstrating the use of the Gulf by migratory white sharks, expanding our current understanding of their distribution in the western North Atlantic and highlighting the potential importance of FGBNMS and outer shelf banks to this species and other migratory taxa.