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
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.
