Are public aquariums in California now prohibited from catching new fishes and sharks for their tanks?

[sally666]

I am asking this because the Monterey Bay Aquarium has less sharks in their tanks compared to 20 years ago. Are they now prohibited from catching sharks from the wild and placing them in their display tanks, even if it is for educational purposes?

For example, their shark tank used to have lots of Sevengill sharks 20 years ago. Maybe some have died or have been released back into the wild since then, but why won't the aquarium re-stock them again?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I am asking this because the Monterey Bay Aquarium has less sharks in their tanks compared to 20 years ago. Are they now prohibited from catching sharks from the wild and placing them in their display tanks, even if it is for educational purposes?

For example, their shark tank used to have lots of Sevengill sharks 20 years ago. Maybe some have died or have been released back into the wild since then, but why won't the aquarium re-stock them again?

That's a good question. I know that California has a restriction on bringing tropical sharks into the state without a permit, but local sharks are not covered by that. California has an allowance for "scientific collecting permits" for their local species, and as a public aquarium curator, in the midwest, I was able to get one of those, so I know that Monterey would have easily been able to get one also. Years ago, they were able to get multiple permits to collect white sharks. I suspect that the change that you saw is based on some changes to their exhibit plans. I may remember this wrong, but I seem to recall that they had some predation issues with sevengills - they may have decided that their predatory nature just wasn't worth it....