Jaws lied: The real reason great whites can’t be displayed in captivity

 Can you keep a great white shark in an aquarium? Has anyone tried? We’ll go over a comprehensive history of great whites in aquariums, even though the longest stay was only 198 days!

Great white sharks are known for their huge migrations that sweep across the globe. They’re also known for being ferocious, though more great whites are killed by humans every year than the other way around. The average life span of a great white can be anywhere from 40 to 70 years of age.

Trial and error have not yielded results that suggest the great white shark can successfully be kept in captivity. While aquarium professionals have tried extensively to keep these sharks in captivity, it has never worked.

Great white sharks need to maintain high speeds to live. They require a high amount of oxygen to function, and they can’t suck water in to pass over their gills. Therefore, they must always remain active.

Popularizing the Great White Shark

Public interest in great white sharks surged in the 1970s after the release of Jaws. While Jaws isn’t a realistic depiction of great white sharks, it did bring them to the forefront of the American imagination. This created interest in seeing great white sharks on display.

1970s-1990s

During this time frame, many aquariums tried to capture and keep great white sharks. It was discovered that they’re not easy to trap, and once they are trapped, they injure themselves. Most died, some were released, and the longest-lasting shark only made it 6 months.

Steinhardt Aquarium

1980

In August 1980, the great white shark later known as Sandy became the first of her species ever placed on public display when she was housed at San Francisco’s Steinhart Aquarium, part of the California Academy of Sciences. Caught alive in Tomales Bay by fisherman Al Wilson, the seven-foot juvenile was carefully transported by truck and hoisted into the aquarium’s newly built circular “fish roundabout” tank. The exhibit opened amid peak shark fascination following Jaws, drawing tens of thousands of visitors in just a few days. Aquarium director John McCosker believed the tank’s continuous-flow design could meet a great white’s constant swimming and oxygen needs, marking a bold scientific gamble at a time when no great white had ever survived in captivity for more than a day.

Despite the careful planning, Sandy’s condition deteriorated quickly. Accustomed to the dim light of deeper waters, she became stressed by the bright exhibit and refused to eat. Divers were forced to guide her movement to keep water flowing over her gills, and technicians later discovered stray electrical currents in part of the tank that caused her to turn abruptly or sink when she encountered them. After five days, McCosker concluded the environment posed too great a risk. Sandy was removed, transported by boat, and released near the Farallon Islands, where tagging data showed she survived at least another year in the wild. Though her stay lasted less than a week, Sandy’s case fundamentally changed aquarium science, demonstrating both the extreme challenges of keeping great white sharks in captivity and the ethical imperative to release them when conditions proved unsuitable.

OceanWorld in Sydney, Australia

November 1993

This was the very first time that a great white had successfully been transported to a museum. However, it immediately started showing erratic behavior.

It began smashing itself into the glass of its enclosure and OceanWorld released the shark back into the wild after 5 days. It’s believed that sounds and other stimulants overwhelmed and disoriented the shark.

Tuna Cage Captivity

Great white sharks are sometimes caught by tuna fishermen which, when reported, provides scientists with a great opportunity to observe captive behavior. It’s estimated that tuna cage captivity has occurred hundreds of times, but there are only a few recorded instances.

2002 in Tripoli, Libya

A great white shark was trapped in a tuna cage off the coast of Libya in the Mediterranean Sea. It broke into the tuna trap and the towing boat responsible for the cage observed the shark for 2.5 hours. Recordings and photographs were taken of the event.

It took the shark 2.5 days to vacate the trap and it chewed a hole through the enclosure’s net to do so. Sharks sneaking into Mediterranean fish traps is a more common occurrence than desired. This has sparked conservation efforts that focus on the impact of the tuna industry on local shark populations.

June 19th, 2003, in Port Lincoln, South Australia

On June 24th, the shark was successfully released from the cage. This is an important achievement because it’s proven very difficult to coax a great white out of a tuna cage. They either vacate on their own or di,e but they do not respond to human efforts to release them.

This is the first recorded incident of sharks being caught in this location, but as the study that recorded them progressed, other instances of capture occurred. The dates of these subsequent captures are September 2003 and May 2004.