- some they paid fishermen to hand over, some they caught themselves. Their stays ranged from just 11 days up to months. The Monterey Bay Aquarium had succeeded in doing what no one else could. But it did take a toll on the sharks. They developed visible sores from bumping into the sides of the tank.
(We actually snuck in with photographers and took pictures of the sharks as they were beginning to attrit and fail due to the constant scraping against the walls basically. As we viewed it, it was a vase of flowers that would be kept for the visitors.)Historically, aquariums kept sharks that lived near the seabed or near reefs. That makes sense - it’s easier to recreate those habitats in a tank. But in recent decades, aquariums have wanted to bring in bigger, more pelagic sharks, those that spend time roaming the open ocean. They’ve even been able to exhibit the largest shark in the world, the whale shark, if they have a big enough tank. But pelagic sharks are used to being able to swim long distances without obstructions, changing directions only as they please. So the faster-moving sharks like the white shark, mako shark, and blue shark, they have trouble with walls when they’re put in a tank.
That’s what was happening with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s sixth white shark in 2011. They decided to release it after 55 days and its tracking tag revealed that the shark died shortly after being released. They’re not sure why. But since then, they haven’t tried bring in another great white shark.