Andrew
03-31-2005, 12:00 PM
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2005
MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM TAGS, RELEASES WHITE SHARK AFTER 6 ½ MONTHS ON EXHIBIT
A young female white shark placed on exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium last September was returned to the wild shortly before sunrise today (Thursday, March 31).
Aquarium staff released the shark in the offshore waters south of Monterey Bay. Prior to release, she was fitted with an electronic data tag that will track her movements for the next month.
The timing of her release was prompted in part by concerns that she had grown to a point that would soon make it more difficult to handle her and safely return her to the ocean, and on new observations that she was beginning to hunt other sharks in her multi-species exhibit.
“We’ve always planned a release when the time was right, and now was the time,” said Randy Hamilton, vice president of husbandry for the aquarium. “Her health is excellent, we’ve learned a great deal during her time with us, and we have every expectation that she’ll do well back in the wild.”
In 50 years of attempts, she is the first white shark to survive more than 16 days at any aquarium, and the first to consistently take food offered by aquarium staff. During her 198 days in the aquarium’s million-gallon Outer Bay exhibit, she grew from a length of 5 feet and a weight of 62 pounds to a length at release of 6-feet-4 ½ inches and a weight of 162 pounds.
Her rapid growth was one factor in the decision to release her today, Hamilton said.
“The larger she grew, the more that human safety and animal welfare concerns became a factor in our thinking,” he said. “It’s more risky to handle a larger animal.”
In addition, behavioral observations by staff aquarists this week led them to conclude that the maturing white shark was beginning to act like a hunter, Hamilton said.
She bit and killed two soupfin sharks in a two-week span starting Feb. 23, but it was not clear that hunting was a factor in those incidents, he noted.
“We’ve been watching to see if she was actively hunting other animals in the exhibit,” he said. “When we saw clear signs on Monday, we decided an immediate release would be best.”
The aquarium will begin a fourth field season of white shark research this summer, and will attempt to bring another young shark back to Monterey for exhibit.
“We’ve learned a tremendous amount about how to care for a white shark,” said Associate Curator Manny Ezcurra, who heads the aquarium’s white shark exhibit team. “When she arrived, no one even knew if she’d survive or feed, or thrive in the exhibit. After six and a half months, she’s done so well that we’re releasing her because she’s grown so much.”
“We found that she had a fantastic capacity to swim in the Outer Bay exhibit, and an impressive ability to heal from injuries,” he said. “We learned that she has food preferences, and that vitamins we’ve given to other sharks are also effective with a white shark. We’ve learned to modify our feeding and handling techniques to keep her healthy in the exhibit, and we’ve observed behavioral changes as she grew.”
“From all we’ve learned, a second shark should do even better than the first,” Ezcurra added. “We’ll be able to draw on our experience of collecting, caring for and releasing a white shark.”
The shark was caught inadvertently by a commercial halibut fisherman in waters off Huntington Beach (Orange County) on August 20, 2004. She was held in a 4-million-gallon ocean pen off Malibu for three weeks, where she was feeding and navigating well before she was brought to Monterey on September 14 after a 5 ½ hour drive in a 3,000-gallon life support transport vehicle.
Rather than reversing the long drive, the husbandry team elected to release her in local waters.
“Right now, sea surface temperatures are the same from Monterey Bay to Baja California,” said Dr. Randy Kochevar, a marine biologist on the staff of the aquarium. “And recently collected data, including data from an animal tagged in our field research project last year, suggest that young white sharks range all along the coast, including the waters of Monterey Bay and north of San Francisco.”
During her time at the aquarium, nearly 1 million visitors saw her and learned more about shark conservation issues in conversations with staff and volunteer guides; through a question-and-answer auditorium program devoted to the white shark project; in other exhibits that address shark conservation; and through new exhibit graphics specifically addressing the threats facing white sharks.
“She’s been an incredible ambassador for white sharks and shark conservation,” Kochevar said.
In addition to helping reach visitors with a conservation message, the white shark filled in a fundamental gap in the understanding of white shark biology, he said.
Aquarium biologists tracked each gram of food she ate from the time she arrived until her release. Because they know her weight and length both at arrival and at release, those data will allow them to calculate how much energy she expended in swimming and basic metabolic functions, and how many calories were available for growth, Kochevar said.
“Data like these are impossible to obtain from sharks in the wild,” he said. “I think it’s safe to say we were all astonished at how much she grew while she was here.”
The shark ate an average of two to four pounds of fish a day – generally wild-caught salmon steaks and fillets, as well as albacore tuna and whole mackerel. She went without eating fewer than 10 days during her stay at the aquarium, Ezcurra said.
For the next month, the electronic tag on the white shark will record her movements along the coast, the depths she favors and the water temperatures she prefers. Together with data from six other sharks already tagged in the field research program, the information will contribute to basic understanding of the habitat preferences of juvenile white sharks, Kochevar said. Those data will be shared with wildlife officials, who can use them to inform fisheries management decisions involving young white sharks, he said.
The nonprofit aquarium will expand its own field research program significantly, using an additional $500,000 allocated this month for multi-year field conservation studies of white sharks in southern California and Baja California. This brings to $840,000 the amount the aquarium has committed since 2002 toward field research aimed at conserving white sharks in the wild. It has budgeted a total of $2.1 million for all white shark field projects since 2002.
A research plan for use of the $500,000 will be developed in the coming weeks, according to Dr. Chris Harrold, director of conservation research for the aquarium. Key areas of study will involve continued tagging of young white sharks to learn more about where and when they move in the waters off Baja and southern California, and DNA sampling to learn more about the population of young white sharks in the region. All of the studies will involve partnerships with research colleagues, Harrold said.
Through its Center for the Future of the Oceans, the aquarium will also work with other institutions and agencies to help develop the best strategies for white shark conservation policy in California waters, Harrold said.
“Although white sharks are a protected species in California waters and enjoy some protection in Mexico, they still face significant threats,” Harrold said. “We need to learn much more about them in order to assure a future with white sharks in the wild.”
Surveys of aquarium visitors prior to the 2004 opening of the “Sharks: Myth and Mystery” special exhibition found that 75 percent of them were concerned about conservation of sharks in the wild and believe it’s an important issue to address.
Shark conservation messages aimed at visitors are a significant part of “Sharks: Myth and Mystery,” as well as the award-winning permanent exhibit, “Vanishing Wildlife.” When the white shark went on exhibit, aquarium staff created a question-and-answer auditorium program about the white shark project in which conservation messages are a major component.
Threats to sharks are also a factor in seafood recommendations made through the aquarium’s “Seafood Watch” program, which uses pocket guides for consumers and education campaigns among restaurateurs and retailers to create a market for seafood caught or farmed in sustainable ways.
Additional information about the aquarium’s white shark research project, “Seafood Watch” and other aquarium conservation programs is available online at www.montereybayaquarium.org.
The mission of the Monterey Bay Aquarium is to inspire conservation of the oceans.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2005
MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM TAGS, RELEASES WHITE SHARK AFTER 6 ½ MONTHS ON EXHIBIT
A young female white shark placed on exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium last September was returned to the wild shortly before sunrise today (Thursday, March 31).
Aquarium staff released the shark in the offshore waters south of Monterey Bay. Prior to release, she was fitted with an electronic data tag that will track her movements for the next month.
The timing of her release was prompted in part by concerns that she had grown to a point that would soon make it more difficult to handle her and safely return her to the ocean, and on new observations that she was beginning to hunt other sharks in her multi-species exhibit.
“We’ve always planned a release when the time was right, and now was the time,” said Randy Hamilton, vice president of husbandry for the aquarium. “Her health is excellent, we’ve learned a great deal during her time with us, and we have every expectation that she’ll do well back in the wild.”
In 50 years of attempts, she is the first white shark to survive more than 16 days at any aquarium, and the first to consistently take food offered by aquarium staff. During her 198 days in the aquarium’s million-gallon Outer Bay exhibit, she grew from a length of 5 feet and a weight of 62 pounds to a length at release of 6-feet-4 ½ inches and a weight of 162 pounds.
Her rapid growth was one factor in the decision to release her today, Hamilton said.
“The larger she grew, the more that human safety and animal welfare concerns became a factor in our thinking,” he said. “It’s more risky to handle a larger animal.”
In addition, behavioral observations by staff aquarists this week led them to conclude that the maturing white shark was beginning to act like a hunter, Hamilton said.
She bit and killed two soupfin sharks in a two-week span starting Feb. 23, but it was not clear that hunting was a factor in those incidents, he noted.
“We’ve been watching to see if she was actively hunting other animals in the exhibit,” he said. “When we saw clear signs on Monday, we decided an immediate release would be best.”
The aquarium will begin a fourth field season of white shark research this summer, and will attempt to bring another young shark back to Monterey for exhibit.
“We’ve learned a tremendous amount about how to care for a white shark,” said Associate Curator Manny Ezcurra, who heads the aquarium’s white shark exhibit team. “When she arrived, no one even knew if she’d survive or feed, or thrive in the exhibit. After six and a half months, she’s done so well that we’re releasing her because she’s grown so much.”
“We found that she had a fantastic capacity to swim in the Outer Bay exhibit, and an impressive ability to heal from injuries,” he said. “We learned that she has food preferences, and that vitamins we’ve given to other sharks are also effective with a white shark. We’ve learned to modify our feeding and handling techniques to keep her healthy in the exhibit, and we’ve observed behavioral changes as she grew.”
“From all we’ve learned, a second shark should do even better than the first,” Ezcurra added. “We’ll be able to draw on our experience of collecting, caring for and releasing a white shark.”
The shark was caught inadvertently by a commercial halibut fisherman in waters off Huntington Beach (Orange County) on August 20, 2004. She was held in a 4-million-gallon ocean pen off Malibu for three weeks, where she was feeding and navigating well before she was brought to Monterey on September 14 after a 5 ½ hour drive in a 3,000-gallon life support transport vehicle.
Rather than reversing the long drive, the husbandry team elected to release her in local waters.
“Right now, sea surface temperatures are the same from Monterey Bay to Baja California,” said Dr. Randy Kochevar, a marine biologist on the staff of the aquarium. “And recently collected data, including data from an animal tagged in our field research project last year, suggest that young white sharks range all along the coast, including the waters of Monterey Bay and north of San Francisco.”
During her time at the aquarium, nearly 1 million visitors saw her and learned more about shark conservation issues in conversations with staff and volunteer guides; through a question-and-answer auditorium program devoted to the white shark project; in other exhibits that address shark conservation; and through new exhibit graphics specifically addressing the threats facing white sharks.
“She’s been an incredible ambassador for white sharks and shark conservation,” Kochevar said.
In addition to helping reach visitors with a conservation message, the white shark filled in a fundamental gap in the understanding of white shark biology, he said.
Aquarium biologists tracked each gram of food she ate from the time she arrived until her release. Because they know her weight and length both at arrival and at release, those data will allow them to calculate how much energy she expended in swimming and basic metabolic functions, and how many calories were available for growth, Kochevar said.
“Data like these are impossible to obtain from sharks in the wild,” he said. “I think it’s safe to say we were all astonished at how much she grew while she was here.”
The shark ate an average of two to four pounds of fish a day – generally wild-caught salmon steaks and fillets, as well as albacore tuna and whole mackerel. She went without eating fewer than 10 days during her stay at the aquarium, Ezcurra said.
For the next month, the electronic tag on the white shark will record her movements along the coast, the depths she favors and the water temperatures she prefers. Together with data from six other sharks already tagged in the field research program, the information will contribute to basic understanding of the habitat preferences of juvenile white sharks, Kochevar said. Those data will be shared with wildlife officials, who can use them to inform fisheries management decisions involving young white sharks, he said.
The nonprofit aquarium will expand its own field research program significantly, using an additional $500,000 allocated this month for multi-year field conservation studies of white sharks in southern California and Baja California. This brings to $840,000 the amount the aquarium has committed since 2002 toward field research aimed at conserving white sharks in the wild. It has budgeted a total of $2.1 million for all white shark field projects since 2002.
A research plan for use of the $500,000 will be developed in the coming weeks, according to Dr. Chris Harrold, director of conservation research for the aquarium. Key areas of study will involve continued tagging of young white sharks to learn more about where and when they move in the waters off Baja and southern California, and DNA sampling to learn more about the population of young white sharks in the region. All of the studies will involve partnerships with research colleagues, Harrold said.
Through its Center for the Future of the Oceans, the aquarium will also work with other institutions and agencies to help develop the best strategies for white shark conservation policy in California waters, Harrold said.
“Although white sharks are a protected species in California waters and enjoy some protection in Mexico, they still face significant threats,” Harrold said. “We need to learn much more about them in order to assure a future with white sharks in the wild.”
Surveys of aquarium visitors prior to the 2004 opening of the “Sharks: Myth and Mystery” special exhibition found that 75 percent of them were concerned about conservation of sharks in the wild and believe it’s an important issue to address.
Shark conservation messages aimed at visitors are a significant part of “Sharks: Myth and Mystery,” as well as the award-winning permanent exhibit, “Vanishing Wildlife.” When the white shark went on exhibit, aquarium staff created a question-and-answer auditorium program about the white shark project in which conservation messages are a major component.
Threats to sharks are also a factor in seafood recommendations made through the aquarium’s “Seafood Watch” program, which uses pocket guides for consumers and education campaigns among restaurateurs and retailers to create a market for seafood caught or farmed in sustainable ways.
Additional information about the aquarium’s white shark research project, “Seafood Watch” and other aquarium conservation programs is available online at www.montereybayaquarium.org.
The mission of the Monterey Bay Aquarium is to inspire conservation of the oceans.