Sammy Ready To Say So Long

February 10, 2009

Release from: Barbara Surk
The Age (Australia)

Environmentalists have renewed their call for a marine-themed luxury Dubai resort to release a whale shark on display in the hotel's giant fish tank.

Wildlife activists and environmentalists claim the managers of the $US1.5 billion ($A2.3 billion) Atlantis hotel are endangering the life of the whale shark, which is listed as a threatened species, by keeping it in the resort's open-air aquarium along with 65,000 fish, stingrays and other sea creatures.

The Gulf News newspaper named the fish Sammy in a campaign for its release.

"The risk to the animal being held is greater than if the animal is released," said Lisa Perry, of the Emirates Wildlife Society/World Wildlife Fund, on Sunday.

Releasing the four-metre female whale shark back into the wild "is the right thing to do for Atlantis and for the animal".

Representatives of Atlantis resort, which is on an artificial island in the shape of a palm tree, were not immediately available for comment. They have said they rescued the whale shark in August after it swam into the shallow waters of this city-state's gulf coast.

Activists commended the hotel for nurturing the fish back to health but urged its managers not to turn the animal into a pet.

Keeping the whale shark to attract tourists had jeopardised its chances for a long life in the sea, environmentalists said.

"Holding a whale shark in a constraining artificial environment where it is unable to feed … and has a limited area to move can have fatal consequences," the activists wrote in a letter to the hotel's management.

The whale shark — the world's largest fish species — is listed as a threatened species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

Considered harmless, the whale shark can live up to 100 years and can grow to 14 metres. It is normally found in parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The environmentalists did not give a precise age for the whale shark at Atlantis but said she was a juvenile.

"Taking a potential breeder … from the wild takes not only one whale shark from an already weakened whale shark population but also the possible offspring she could produce," the letter said.

This is not the first environmental controversy that has plagued the Atlantis resort in Dubai. In 2007, activists protested against the sale of dolphins from the Solomon Islands to Dubai.

The mammals were transported by plane from the South Pacific to a man-made lagoon at the resort, where guests can swim with them.

Atlantis officially opened in September. The resort's developers threw a $US20 million party in November, inviting Hollywood celebrities and Australian singer Kylie Minogue.