Exhibit of young great white sharks is one part of the Aquarium's Project White Shark, an effort by the Aquarium and its research colleagues to learn more about white sharks in the wild as well as to inspire visitors to become advocates for shark conservation by bringing them face to face with sharks on exhibit.
August, 2011 Great White Shark No. 6
The Aquarium's sixth white shark was collected by staff August 18 near Malibu, California with the help of a commercial fishing crew using a purse seine net. The four-foot, eight-inch male, weighing 43.2 pounds, remained in an ocean holding pen for almost two weeks while we confirmed that he was feeding and swimming well.
On August 31 we brought him to the Aquarium and placed him in the million-gallon Open Sea exhibit, where he remained for 55 days. He was released on October 25, off the coast of Santa Barbara by the aquarium's animal care staff. Based on the shark's behavior and condition prior to release, the Aquarium's white shark team had every confidence that he would do well back in the wild, and that the release would be a success. He appeared to be doing well before the release team lost sight of him as he swam away. However, according to data from an electronic tracking tag, he died soon afterward.
The decision to release the shark after 55 days on exhibit was based on changes in how well he was navigating in the exhibit, said Aquarium staff veterinarian Dr. Mike Murray—changes that, over time, could have caused abrasions that might become a source of infection.
"While we determined it was best not to keep him on exhibit any longer, we had no reservations about whether the shark would do well in the wild," Dr. Murray added. "That's why his death is both distressing and puzzling."
The Aquarium is reviewing its procedures and protocols to see if any changes are warranted, based on the experience with this shark. We remain committed to our white shark work, and an 11th field season of Project White Shark, including tagging and tracking sharks in the wild—and potentially bringing a young shark to Monterey—will resume in the summer of 2012.
Five other great white sharks have been successfully returned to the wild after spending periods between 11 days and six-and-a-half months at the aquarium. One other animal—a small shark that fed only once during its 11 days on exhibit—was also transported south to Goleta for release. Four other sharks were released in Monterey Bay.
Tracking tag data from all five sharks confirmed they survived their release, though one of the sharks died four months later in a fisherman's net in Baja California.
August 2009 Great White Shark No. 5
The Aquarium's fifth white shark was collected by staff August 12 near Malibu, California with the help of a spotter plane and a commercial fishing crew using a purse seine net. The five-foot, three-inch shark remained in an ocean holding pen for almost two weeks while we confirmed that she was feeding and swimming well.
On August 26 we brought her to the Aquarium and placed her in the million-gallon Outer Bay exhibit, where she helped change public attitudes and promote protection for this magnificent and much-maligned ocean predator. The shark was healthy and feeding at the time of release on November 4. The timing of her release was prompted by the onset of aggressive behavior toward other sharks in the million-gallon Outer Bay exhibit. She did very well on release, traveling from Monterey Bay to Baja California, a distance of more than 500 miles. In March, she was incidentally caught in a gillnet and died, becoming the only one of the five white sharks exhibited at the Aquarium known to have died following its release.
August 2008 Great White Shark No. 4
The fourth white shark was collected on August 16, 2008 in waters off Southern California with the help of a commercial fisherman using a purse seine net. On August 27 we brought the shark to Monterey and placed her in the Outer Bay exhibit. She remained on exhibit for 11 days before being tagged and released to the wild on September 7.
While she was swimming well on exhibit, the shark fed only one time during her stay, and the Aquarium's animal care staff decided it was best to return her to the ocean. "These decisions are always governed by our concern for the health and well-being of these animals under our care," said Jon Hoech, director of husbandry for the Aquarium. "It became clear that it was time to release her."
Like the three other white sharks exhibited at the Aquarium, she carried a tracking tag to document her movements. The tag popped free on October 8, four months ahead of schedule, and was recovered near San Miguel Island in the Santa Barbara Channel on October 23. Data from the tag showed that she remained in waters around the Channel Islands, where we released her on September 7, and that she was doing well in the wild.
August 2007 Great White Shark No. 3
This white shark was caught accidentally in a commercial sea bass net in August 2007 off Ventura, California. During his 162 days at the Aquarium, he grew from 4 feet 9 inches and a weight of 67 1/2 pounds to his release size of 5 feet 10 inches and 140 pounds. When we released him in Monterey Bay in February 2008, he was fitted with two tracking tags. One remained with him for 148 days, documenting his migration along with the water temperatures and depths he favored. The second was a “Smart Position or Temperature Transmitting (SPOT)” tag that communicated his position via satellite each time his dorsal fin broke the surface of the water. From that tag we learned that the shark traveled south to Mazatlán, Mexico in his first 50 days back in the wild. The public was able to track his movements almost in real time at the Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) website.
August 2006 Great White Shark No. 2
In August 2006, our husbandry staff collected a somewhat larger white shark in Santa Monica Bay. This year-old male thrived and grew for 137 days before we returned him to the wild in January 2007. During his 137 days at the Aquarium, he grew from a length of 5 feet 8 inches and a weight of 103 pounds to his release size of 6 feet 5 inches and 171 pounds. He was fitted with a 90-day tracking tag that documented his travels to the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico—a journey that took him more than 2,000 miles and to depths of 1,000 feet.
August 2004 Great White Shark No. 1
The first white shark, a female, was in the Outer Bay exhibit for 198 days—the longest-ever exhibit of a white shark.
We received the shark in August 2004 after she was collected inadvertently by commercial fishermen in Southern California. She was held in an ocean pen, where she remained in good health, navigated the pen well and began feeding. On September 14 she was transported to Monterey and placed in the million-gallon exhibit. During her stay she grew from a length of 5 feet and a weight of 62 pounds to 6 feet 4½ inches and 162 pounds. She was fitted with an electronic tag and released on March 31, 2005. In the 30 days after her release, she traveled more than 100 miles offshore and dove to 800 feet before the tag popped free near Santa Barbara.
During her stay, she was seen by nearly a million visitors and became, in the words of Aquarium Executive Director Julie Packard, "the most powerful emissary for ocean conservation in our history."