Newest White Shark in Captivity Eats for First Time This Week

• Aquarium Expects Labor Day Throngs to Visit the Closely Monitored Malibu Catch

BY ANNE SOBLE

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has placed a fifth young great white shark on exhibit after bringing her from Malibu to Monterey last Wednesday in the 3000-gallon mobile transport unit dubbed the “finnebago” —a trip shrouded in the kind of secrecy normally reserved for rock stars and heads of state who cause uncontrollable media frenzies.
The five-foot, three-inch, 79.8- pound female white was caught Aug. 12 with the help of a spotter plane and a commercial fishing crew using a purse seine net. She was quickly transferred to the 4-million-gallon ocean holding pen off the local coast, where she remained for almost two weeks.
Aquarium staff said they observed the juvenile shark swimming comfortably and feeding in the pen nearly a dozen times before she was brought to Monterey and placed in the million-gallon Outer Bay exhibit.
However, the young shark did not feed for seven days. On Tuesday afternoon, Ken Peterson, the communications director for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, announced that “after passing on numerous earlier feeding opportunities, the white shark ate 444 grams (just under a pound) of fresh Pacific mackerel off of a feeding pole. In addition to feeding, she struck at two other baits, but did not consume them.” He said these are “all good signs, as far as our husbandry team is concerned.”
In addition to mackerel, the white is being offered salmon. Peterson added, “Our staff will continue feeding efforts this afternoon, and resume again early Wednesday morning.”
This close monitoring is important because the fourth shark put on display in 2008 during the Labor Day holiday, also a young female, but smaller, ate only once during her stay at the aquarium. She was released after 11 days because of concern for her well-being.
All four sharks previously kept at the aquarium were tagged and tracked after their release. The one released last year after the briefest stay remained in waters near the Channel Islands off Santa Barbara. Data from her tag, and observations from a local fisherman who later accidentally caught and released her, showed she was doing well. Her tag subsequently dislodged early and there was no further information.
Collectively, the four sharks previously exhibited at the aquarium have been seen by more than two million people. Although dispute continues over keeping these animals in captivity, since 2002, the aquarium says because of this record attendance, it has been able to allocate more than $1 million toward field studies of adult and juvenile white sharks.
Data from young white sharks tagged since the field project began in 2002 have been published in the scientific press and document the use of California waters, including those off Malibu, as “white shark nurseries.”
Those interested in following the adventures of the newest white on exhibit can visit the MBA blog that is updated daily at: http://www.montereybayaquarium.typepad.com.