Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images
Topics: Animals, Environment, Science, Sharks
Jess Battison
While there are ethical concerns of captivity, aquariums can be a great place for learning about aquatic creatures and plants - especially when preservation and conservation is prioritised.
Plenty of us have fond memories of running around looking at fish and passing through the big tunnels as they swim over her heads.
But although various aquariums across the UK are home to different types of shark, there is a specific type that will never be found in them. The great white, of course.
It’s not without trying though as since the 70s, a number of aquariums have had several attempts at displaying a captive great white shark. Tragically, however, most times this ended up with the animals dead.
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By the time the 2000s rolled around, it was only the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California still trying to find a way to house a great white.
After a whole lot of time planning its white shark program, it acquired a shark in 2004 that became the first great white which survived in captivity for over 16 days.
The shark ended up being on display for more than six months before the aquarium released it back into the ocean.
But while the aquarium did manage to house a number of other more juvenile white sharks after that, there is an important reason why they aren’t kept in captivity like this.
Often tragically from what has been seen in the past, the main reason great white sharks struggle in aquariums is because they’re nomadic.
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The whoppers of the sea are used to travelling long distances which they can’t exactly do while inside a tank. And it’s said they’d often end up with injuries from bumping into the glass walls of their enclosures.
So, once they then start to slow down or stop moving altogether, it means breathing becomes a struggle and they end up getting weaker.
Plus, there’s the predatory instincts to contend with.
In 2011, Monterey Bay had to release one of its juvenile whites back into the wild because it killed two of its tank mates. That same year, it ended its program with much criticism due to the injuries sharks had developed there.
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Jon Hoech, the aquarium's director of husbandry operations, had said in response: "We believe strongly that putting people face to face with live animals like this is very significant in inspiring ocean conservation and connecting people to the ocean environment. We feel like white sharks face a significant threats out in the wild and our ability to bring awareness to that is significant in terms of encouraging people to become ocean stewards."