OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD
MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM
The fi fth great white shark to be released by Monterey Bay Aquarium was recently killed by a fi shing net. John O’Sullivan, curator of fi eld operations, tells Kathleen Whyman about the aquarium’s work and how these sharks can be protected
What happened?
As with all of our previous exhibit sharks, it got to a point where we determined for the animal’s health it needed to be released, which was last November when the shark was 1.7m-long. With the release we applied two types of satellite tags to track its health after its release. One of those tags had a data recording method of 180 days that transmits at the end of that time. The other satellite tag says ‘I’m here’ when the dor- sal fi n breaks the surface, so the two tools together really complement each other. She did very well on release, travelling from Monterey Bay to Baja California, a dis- tance of more than 500 miles. Our fi rst indication that something might
be wrong was when the data tag started to report early – after 25 days – though this isn’t uncommon because of malfunctions. There was nothing conclusive in the data that was transmitted, so we attempted to recover the tag because if you get it back you get all the data and there’s more to
evaluate the potential outcome. We sent a recovery team to a sandpit in central Baha. The day they got there the tag stopped talking. We didn’t have any conclusion to draw until the second tag started report- ing again and it was on land, which is not a good sign because that tag doesn’t fl oat. Using the satellite latitude and longitude,
we sent colleagues to recover the tag and talk to the fi sherman. It’s a story we hear all the time – it was a bycatch animal. [The term bycatch is used for fi sh caught unin- tentionally while intending to catch other fi sh.] It was an unfortunate incident. The fi sherman had moved his nets further off- shore because of a problem he had with giant squid eating catches that go into the net. Due to bad weather he didn’t get to his nets for several days. White sharks are protected both in
California and Mexico so if commercial fi sherman get to sharks that are alive in the net, they release them and most survive. It happens several times a year.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s White Shark Project, started in 2002, is helping research and exhibit white sharks caught off the California coast. This project is promoting study, awareness and conservation of these animals. By tagging and exhibiting white sharks they aim to promote public understanding and protection of this ecologically impor- tant and threatened species.
It’s an unfortunate event – it’s the fi rst of
our exhibit sharks that we know has met this fate. At this size they’re at their most vulnerable to these fi sheries. As they get larger they face less and less challenges because of their sheer size.
What impact did this news have on the staff at the aquarium?
After human safety, animal welfare is our biggest concern. Having that happen is sobering. For many, it makes us want to refocus and energise ourselves into the programme because of the importance of it. The reward you get when the shark’s on exhibit and you see the public looking at it and appreciating it, that’s a great feeling. When an animal’s lost, it’s sobering.
Have you now reviewed your policy on releasing sharks into the wild?
The Monterey Bay Aquarium aims to promote conservation awareness of the threatened great white sharks
This animal was at liberty for more than 130 days. That was the longest we could have exhibited that animal for because of the size. Our exhibit is only so big and you have to be concerned with the animal’s welfare. You can’t help but think if maybe we’d released it a day later would it have swum another way? But we can’t not release things into the wild because we’re concerned that they might have an unfortu- nate event in the future. It’s hard to separate the ‘huggy feeling’
that’s sometimes associated with the car- ing for animals. These are not pets, they’re
42 Read Attractions Management online
attractionsmanagement.com/digital AM 3 2010 ©cybertrek 2010
© MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM/RANDY WILDER
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86