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Why Do Great White Sharks Gather in the Middle of the Pacific Ocean?

Deep in the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Baja California and Hawaii, lies the White Shark Café. This seemingly barren patch of ocean is the destination for great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), which make a long, puzzling journey each year from the rich coastal waters of California. What drives these apex predators to gather in such a remote area has baffled scientists for years.

The term “White Shark Café” was coined by Barbara Block, a marine sciences professor at Stanford University, while studying the migration of North Pacific great whites. In 1999, Block and her team began tracking sharks with electronic tags, revealing for the first time that many of them spend months in the open ocean. Some swam to this mysterious region and dove as deep as 1,500 feet (450 meters), sparking curiosity about what attracted them to this desolate part of the sea.

Initially, the Café was thought to be a lifeless area, a kind of oceanic desert. However, further research changed that view. In 2018, Block and her team tagged 20 more sharks to explore the area. What they found surprised everyone. Instead of an empty expanse, the Café was teeming with life. Rich layers of algae and a wide variety of marine creatures—over 100 species of deep-sea fish and squid—indicated that this was a thriving ecosystem.

This discovery suggested that the sharks gather at the Café in search of food, drawn by the rich diversity of prey. However, the reason they leave the abundant coastal waters for this distant spot remains unclear. One theory is that the sharks are not only following their food but might also be engaging in mating behaviors. Researchers observed that male sharks increased their diving activity dramatically in April, while females remained less active. The purpose of this pattern is still being studied, but some experts believe the males may be diving deeper to improve their chances of mating.