“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.
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