Great White Shark Penned Off Malibu Awaits
Decision on Its Fate as an Aquarium Showpiece
A juvenile great white shark has been
living in the floating pen off Escondido Beach for two weeks,
being watched by Monterey Bay Aquarium crews to see if it
is strong and hungry enough to spend the next half year or so
on display in captivity up north.
Two other sharks deemed unsuitable for
the Monterey gig were tagged and released this month from the
floating pen, both set free one mile off the shore near
Paradise Cove.
“They are looking for small fish at
this stage of their lives, and are not looking for people to
eat,” said Ken Peterson, spokesperson for the Monterey
scientific institution and tourist attraction. “The
released sharks are traveling off to Ventura, Orange
County or down to Baja.”
Peterson said that itinerary is based on
the past behavior of released sharks, who are tagged with
a tracking device that detaches from the sharks if they stop
moving or after the batteries get weak, and then surfaces to
transmit accumulated GPS data.
Fishing crews netting sand bass three miles
west of Ventura captured the latest shark Aug. 3 in about 120
feet of water, and set course for the temporary pen to sell him
to the aquarium. The shark was determined to be a male less
than one year of age.
For five years, the aquarium has stationed
a floating pen in the protected waters east of Point Dume to
hold specimens and has put out the word to commercial fishing
trawlers that they are in the market for live sharks.
Scientists hope to give an incentive to fishing crews to keep
the great whites alive and uninjured as they are brought to
Malibu, even though most of the animals are tagged and
released.
Some years, no sharks are captured.
Last year’s captive shark was
released after being viewed by 600,000 aquarium-goers
during 137 days on display. He had grown to 6-feet, 5-inches in
length and 171 pounds of flesh, cartilage and teeth. This
specimen, like many recently released sharks, headed to the
shores near Mazatlan, where his radio tag gave
Stanford University scientists valuable information about
its travels.
“It looks like the shark spent his
days near the surface, with occasional deep dives to around 660
feet [deep]—a pattern typical of adults when they are
traveling to and from the California coast to offshore hot
spots between California and Hawaii,” said Dr. Kevin
Weng, quoted in an aquarium article.
Scientists have used funding from Monterey
Bay Aquarium shark tourism to tag and release dozens of great
white sharks in the San Francisco area, and have learned about
shark hot spots as a result.
Although it is not clear where great white
sharks are usually born, juvenile sharks are often spotted in
the warm and sheltered waters of Santa Monica Bay.
Peterson said local swimmers have no
rational reason to fear juvenile sharks being released just
offshore popular swimming beaches.
“Ask the lifeguards and the surfers
and they will tell you these baby sharks are always found in
the waters just offshore the waves, and I remember well the
year the airborne traffic reporters got all those great
pictures of the sharks sunning themselves right off Will Rogers
Beach.”
