Great White Released By Aquarium Dies in Fishing Net

[The Straight Story]

Great White Released By Aquarium Dies in Fishing Net


MONTEREY, Calif- The young great white shark that was returned to the wild by the Monterey Bay Aquarium last November died after she was caught in a fishing net off Baja California. She is the only white sharks exhibited at the aquarium known to have died following its release.

The shark was on exhibit for 69 days prior to her release and traveled about 500 miles south before she was caught in early March, in a gillnet set by a fisherman in waters off Ensenada, Mexico.

"This just underscores the threats that these young sharks face in the wild," said Randy Hamilton, vice president of husbandry for the aquarium. "Though they're legally protected in both California and Mexico, they are still caught accidentally by commercial fishermen on both sides of the border. Not all of them survive."

In 50 years of attempts worldwide, the Monterey Bay Aquarium remains the only institution to keep a great white shark on exhibit for more than 16 days, to get the animals to take food consistently from staff and to document the sharks' successful return to the ocean.

Tracking data from four previous great white sharks kept at the aquarium documented their successful return to the wild. Two sharks traveled to the southern tip of Baja California and beyond within 90 days, and a third with a 30-day tracking tag headed to waters near Santa Barbara. A fourth shark, tagged and released near Santa Barbara after 11 days in Monterey, was caught and released in good health just a few days later by a commercial fisherman in Santa Barbara.

http://www.kionrightnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12463018

[LakeSamish706]

1. Well the good in this is at least she died free and not penned up. n/t

[Submariner]

2. If the human race went extinct this week

The poly ghost nets and traps we have left behind would survive to kill many thousands of seals, whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles, seabirds and other ocean critters for probably centuries to come.

The Mexican fisherman is just one visible instance of fish netting/trapping. What a waste.

What is really astounding are the amounts of unattended invisible ghost nets and traps that keep on catching and never stop killing. It's happening all the time, we just don't get to see the life and death struggle enough to get the message to clean up our act.