![]() ![]() Zebra sharks were once as common in Raja Ampat’s sandy seabeds as in Australia. ![]() Kathlyn newly hatched from her egg casing. Site in Wayag lagoon, Raja Ampat. © Mark ErdmannĬharlie, Kathlyn and Audrey’s story began in a tank at the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, where they were bred from zebra sharks that had been captured off the coast of Australia - one of the few places where the species is thriving, thanks to a ban on shark finning. Raja Ampat is a monument to effective marine conservation - the perfect place for ReShark to test the idea that captive breeding and release could boost shark populations. At the same time, ecotourism has flourished - while local people’s access to education, food and livelihoods have improved. Today, this remarkable archipelago in Southwest Papua, Indonesia, is made up of nine interconnected marine protected areas covering about 67,000 square kilometers (26,000 square miles) that are home to the greatest diversity of marine life on the planet.įish populations have rebounded sharks, whales and rays have returned poaching is down 90 percent and coral reefs are recovering. But conservation efforts - led by local communities - gradually changed all that. Nearly two decades ago, this ecosystem was almost destroyed by unregulated commercial fishing, poaching and damaging practices such as dynamite fishing. In just about any place in Southeast Asia, there’s a good chance Charlie and the other pups could have been caught and killed for their fins after being released. ![]() “We have an opportunity to give them a fighting chance.” “Sharks are some of the most misunderstood, and threatened, species on the planet,” Erdmann said. “I’ve had this dream since 2015, and to have it finally realized after years of false starts, trials and tribulations, and hard work is truly awesome.”Įrdmann figured that if sharks could be released from aquariums back into the wild to somewhere they wouldn’t be caught, they just might be able to come back from the edge of extinction. “Witnessing those first zebra sharks swim away was simply electrifying,” said Mark Erdmann, who leads Conservation International’s Asia-Pacific marine programs and came up with the idea for the program. But the approach had never been tried with marine species. For decades, captive breeding programs have successfully reinvigorated struggling populations of orangutans, California condors and other wildlife. To reintroduce threatened sharks into the wild. The pups are pioneers in a global effort known as ReShark, a multinational partnership of nearly 80 aquariums, universities and environmental organizations - including Conservation International and its local partner Konservasi Indonesia - that has launched a captive breeding program Laid in a Sydney aquarium, their fragile egg casings were carefully secured and boxed up for the 8,000-kilometer (5,000-mile) journey - by land, air and sea - to the protected waters of Raja Ampat, a remote archipelago known for its extraordinary biodiversity. The three pups (Charlie and his sisters Kathlyn and Audrey) are the first endangered sharks ever to be bred in captivity for the purpose of being released into the wild. “My hope is that Charlie and the others will be ambassadors for their species - and all the other sharks we want to protect.”Ĭharlie nine weeks after hatching. “We had been working toward that moment for three years, we were so proud,” she recalled recently. She lowered her hands into the waterĪnd Charlie swam free - weaving his long, striped tail fin as he disappeared into the reef.Ī short time later, Ichida, a local marine biologist, released two more shark pups into the water. Off the coast of Indonesia’s easternmost island, on a bright January day this year, Nesha Ichida waded into the crystal-clear waters of a secluded lagoon, gently cradling a 15-week-old zebra shark named Charlie.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |