White Shark Displayed At Monterey Aquarium

August 28, 2007

Release from: KSBW (California)

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Tuesday placed a young white shark on public display after it was accidentally caught in commercial fishing gear off Southern California.

The exhibition marks the third time since 2004 that the aquarium has placed a shark on display.

The two prior sharks were kept in the aquarium for between four and five months before being released back into the wild.

Aquarium officials said they hoped to keep the shark on display for several months in hopes that educating the public will entice them to change their attitudes about the often-feared ocean predators.

“I can’t overstate the impact of this single animal on advancing our mission to inspire conservation of the oceans,” said David Packard, the founder of the aquarium.

The young shark, a 4-foot, 9-inch male weighing 67 ½ pounds, was caught three miles off Ventura by a sea bass fisherman before being brought north Tuesday in a 3,000-gallon mobile life support transport truck.

The shark will be tagged and tracked after it is released so scientists can continue to study its behavior.

Data from the previous two sharks are offering new insights into the far-ranging travels of white sharks in the eastern Pacific, said Dr. Barbara Block of Stanford University, a marine biologist and principal investigator with Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP).