Shark that Started Its Journey Off Malibu Gives New Meaning to Notion of Spring Break

• No Passport Required as Young White Released by Aquarium Heads for Points South

BY ANNE SOBLE

Shark watchers around the world are keeping track of the young white shark returned to the ocean by the Monterey Bay Aquarium six weeks ago that already has traveled past the southern tip of Baja California and is now basking in warmer waters off the Mexican mainland.
Caught off the local coast last August and acclimated in the 4-million-gallon holding pen off Point Dume for 24 days, the male white was trucked north to MBA’s Outer Bay exhibit and put on display for five months.
When the shark began exhibiting assertive behavior, he was prepped for release on Feb. 5.
Dubbed “Streak” by some of his fans, he is the first shark to carry two kinds of tracking tags.
Streak carries one tag that logs where he travels, as well as the water temperatures and depths. That tag will pop free on July 2 and transmit its data via satellite to researchers at the aquarium and at Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station, MBA’s partner in the white shark research project.
The second tag, being used for the first time on a released shark, is a Smart-Position-Only Tag that transmits the shark’s location via satellite when its dorsal fin breaks the surface of the water. It reports information every two days.
The pop-up tag will continue to collect data for three months, but the SPOT will report for six.
No one at MBA will speculate on how far the young white will travel, but there is no question that the growing number of people who are tracking him reflects the magnitude of human fascination with great white sharks.
The aquarium announced plans to acquire another young white to put on display this summer.