AIRAN SCRUBY
Staff Writer
There just weren’t enough sharks off the coast of Malibu this summer.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium failed to catch a white shark this summer near Will Rogers State Beach in Malibu for its ongoing project to display white sharks to the public, as well as to study a live white shark in a controlled environment.
“There’s very little known about the life of the white shark, and we’re interested in finding out more about them, as well as in educating the public about them,” Dr. Randy Kochevar said. Kochevar is a marine biologist with the aquarium and has been involved in the shark project in Malibu.
The project targeted sharks born this spring, which are still small and able to adjust to change. The logistical element of transportation also was considered in choosing to seek a smaller animal.
The aquarium’s team used a round net enclosure measuring 150 feet in diameter and 35 feet deep, in which they hoped to place a captured shark for observation and to allow the specimen to adjust to a confined environment.
Malibu City Council member Pamela Conley Ulich said she was unenthusiastic about the holding pen in the water and by the kind of notoriety such a project could receive.
Ulich said she was concerned that the holding area for sharks, if left in the same area each summer, could prove an “attractive nuisance”; children could attempt to swim inside the net or get too close in an effort to see the sharks or on dares from peers.
“I know a lot of people who surf and swim at Paradise Cove,” Ulich said. “I’m very concerned, and I’ve talked to many others who are as well.”
Ulich said a special committee had been formed, and she and Mayor Pro Tem Ken Kearsley would further examine the issue.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium began its long-term white shark research project in 2000, in partnership with Stanford University and California State University at Long Beach. Kochevar said the aquarium chose a Malibu beach because young white sharks are known to frequent the area each summer.
While other zoos and aquariums have attempted to display white sharks caught by fishermen in the past, these sharks were typically unable to survive in captivity and either perished or had to be released.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium made the decision to actively search for a juvenile shark they could collect more methodically, Kochevar said.
In 2002, a shark captured by fisherman was brought to the holding tank for observation. The aquarium observed the shark for several days, then displayed the four-foot shark for 198 days.
The shark was released in the spring of this year, and marine biologists returned to Malibu in hopes of catching a second shark, this time without the aid of fishermen.
One five-foot shark was caught this summer but died of injuries within a day. The biologists said that they didn’t know when or where the injuries came from. Last week, the holding pen was removed from the water for the winter months. Though efforts this year were not successful, new funding has been allocated for next year’s efforts and Kochevar remains optimistic about the shark project in Malibu.
Plans have been made to hold a special town meeting on the presence of the shark pen in November or December. The meeting would include representatives from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Malibu City Council and anyone from the community.
09-29-2005
