Another GWS @ the Monterrey Bay Jail House for Innocent Fish

Great white shark debuts at Monterey Bay Aquarium
Bay City News Service
The Monterey Bay Aquarium announced today it has put a great white shark on display in the Outer Bay exhibit for the second time in the aquarium's history.

In 2004 and 2005, a female great white shark was on display in the aquarium's Outer Bay exhibit for approximately six months and became ``the most powerful emissary for ocean conservation in our history,'' according to aquarium Executive Director Julie Packard. Attendance at the aquarium increased by approximately 30 percent, to more than 1 million people, during the 198 days the shark was on display, according to aquarium officials.

The new shark on display is a 5-foot-8-inch male weighing approximately 104 pounds. He was caught on Aug. 17 in Santa Monica Bay.

In contrast to the first shark, which was accidentally caught by fishermen and turned over to the aquarium, the new shark was purposely caught by aquarium animal husbandry experts for display.

``There are a lot of unknowns with sharks that are bycatch from a commercial fishery,'' aquarium staff veterinarian Mike Murray said. ``We never know how long they've been in the net, or to what degree their health is compromised. We have much more confidence that we have a healthy animal to begin with when our team does the collecting.''

Part of the shark's display at the aquarium will include information about conservation. Great white sharks are in decline worldwide, in part because they're slow to reproduce and because of growing fishing pressure, the aquarium reports. Great white sharks are now a protected species in California and other U.S. coastal waters, as well as in South Africa, Australia, Mexico and other nations. Their fearsome reputation has also made them a target of trophy hunters and the curio trade, according to aquarium officials.

Aquarium visitors can see the new shark daily through Labor Day from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily beginning Tuesday. It can also be viewed online via the aquarium's streaming Outer Bay webcam from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily at www.montereybayaquarium.org.

Only problem I have (well, I have many problems) with this attempt to encourage conservation is that it is disguised under false pretences. The last white shark "experiment" was largely considered a "success" by Packard Aquarium officials and media--they tout the length of time the shark was held captive as a breakthrough or a record. But the shark DIED immediately upon release. That does not sound like a successful attempt to display a captive white shark to me. Hopefully this one is doesn't succumb to the same fate.


Granted, I DO want to see it and I will see it. So maybe that makes me a hypocrite...
PK

Cant wait to go back.

jason

Did that last one really die?  I thought they had tracking data showing it migrate signficanlty over the weeks following its release.  Maybe I confused two differnt things I read on the same day.

The only problem I have is that they withhold the shark to rake in the dough under the guise of, "research." What are they learning from a pelagic shark in a fishbowl........that it prefers being hand fed chunked salmon over fishsticks.......WTF where's all those morons who buy lobster to release them into the sea when you really need them? 

What pisses me the heck off, is that even though I'm really ticked at the Packard Foundation, my wife and I visited the aquarium last weekend. No mention of the GWS coming.

Also, compared to what we see from the 'yak, the exhibits in the aquarium show fish that in general are big, but look kind of nasty. Time to get current again on SCUBA and also doing some freediving.


Regards,
Scott

I would like to go see this fish.

I had not heard that the other one was confirmed dead.  Do we have confirmation fo that?

At any rate, it is there.  Might as well check it out.

MolBasser

http://www.underwatertimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=266

it says here it lived at least 30 days til the tag popped off. http://www.aza.org/AZAPublications/2005Proceedings/Documents/2005ConfProc9.pdf#search=%22mba%20great%20white%20shark%22

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_whiteshark/whiteshark_slideshow.asp#

If you look at the slideshow link above it shows a map of how far the shark swam before the transmitter popped off. Or maybe she's a good drifter . JK.

This is a toughie. I'm a self professed GWS geek and go nuts to get any chance to see a GWS up close. Had a ball last time MBA had one and will go to see this one too. There is a good argument to be had and I don't honestly know exactly where I side on this issue. I'll have to think it over more. It's a great opportunity for research which could help the species and man. Could help them get their numbers back and possibly see a little into why they sometimes attack man. Tradeoff being they're cooped up in a little tank bouncing off walls possibly getting seriously stressed and hurt making any data received skewed.

I may be pretty selfish right now to just go see it and be in serious awe. (already am checking the webcam http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/efc_outerbay/outerbay_cam.asp  ) Man! he's fast compared to the last female!!

Well at least this GWS geek will be more into it and help anyway I can.

I don't see any negative to the display of this shark.

That is just me.

I find the militant "no shark display" people to be disingenious (I said militant).  The GWS is not endangered to the point that keeping one will have any effect on the population and it can only do good to have the public able to see one.

I particularly find the PSRF to be almost offensive in their opinions on this subject.

I missed the last one, and I will be sure to see this one.

MolBasser

I one of the first to see the new one! just by chance me and my mom went down to MBA to go check it out i love going their and checking all of the tanks they even have yellowtail in living kelp forest tank.(which from my understanding was only suppose to local fish). to our amazment they hade a male gw swimming with the huge tuna. it was a treat!he was movng around pretty quick as well. now i have seen both of them. i plan on oing back on the 5th to check it out again before i head to to standford for the removing of the Demon baby in my head! plus at 11 am is when they feed the tuna and that is always a blast to see

chef

I don't see any negative to the display of this shark.

I agree.

We took the family to see the last one and we'll go again to see this one.

I think that the MBA does a wonderful job of educating people about the sea, the life it holds and its preservation for future generations.
There are a lot of misconceptions about sharks primarily brought on by the media in particular the last few years. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of those entities that educate people with facts about sharks and the conservation of its species.
I for one support a great white shark on the exhibit. Sure it might be a jail for the shark but on the other hand they provide valuable insight on the species and facts that will help in preserving its kind in the wild.