Africa-Press – Namibia. Blue, the ragged-tooth shark, has been freed by the Two Oceans Aquarium. Primedia+ Digital Content Editor Barbara Friedman told CapeTalk’s Clarence Ford that Blue served as a powerful ambassador for her critically endangered species.
She was in the aquarium’s care for eight years after being rescued in 2018. At the time, she was only 26.6kg and 183cm long; when she was released, she was 201kg and 295cm long. Conservationists felt that, as a sexually mature adult, she may contribute to the wild population.
“We know sharks are under so much threat at the moment on our coastline, and so once the decision was made, she was moved from the Save Our Seas Foundation’s Shark Exhibit, where she had been living, to the next stage: to be fitted with acoustic tags, ” said Friedman.
Some of the team members who helped with her rescue assisted with her release. Friedman explained: “They selected Struisbaai as the venue for release because there’s a nice population of ragged-tooth sharks in the area, and it’s also a connection to migration routes along the Agulhas Bank.
And so, she was transported very carefully on a flatbed truck, monitored through her whole journey, and she will continue to be monitored through those tags.
” Blue was taken on a special stretcher into the sea, and some of her team swam with her for a little way.
“I get nervous because I watched a video recently from someone in the shark field talking about the poaching and the killing of sharks on our coastline.
And the shark population in general has gone down to some terribly small number,” said Friedman. To listen to Friedman’s full discussion, use the media player below:Get the
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