Dubai Atlantis whale shark freed

7 Days 18 Mar 10;

The whale shark being held captive at the Atlantis hotel on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah has finally been released.

After being confined to the tank in the hotel’s aquarium for almost 17 months a statement released by the Atlantis today said the female whale shark has been returned to the Arabian Gulf.

The five-star hotel has faced a wave of criticism since it plucked the creature from the sea on August 28, 2008, with thousands joining facebook groups to free it and numerous environmental groups also lobbying for its freedom along with actress Pamela Anderson.

Since its capture the hotel had refused to comment on when the whale shark would be released. In today’s statement it said the creature would be monitored with a tracking device.

“We will continue to track her progress through a tagging program co-developed with The Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida (the world’s largest scientific research organization dedicated to the study of sharks and their relatives)”, commented Steve Kaiser, Vice President, Marine and Science Engineering. “This will give us the opportunity to continue to learn from her and share that research within the whale shark community.”

Dubai hotel releases whale shark back into wild
Associated Press 18 Mar 10;

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A resort hotel on Dubai's main palm-shaped island says it has released back into the wild a whale shark whose captivity had been criticized by environmentalists.

The Atlantis hotel on the city-state's manmade Palm Jumeirah island said Thursday it released the 13-foot-long female shark back into the Persian Gulf. It says the shark has been tagged so it can be tracked for research purposes.

The hotel did not say when the shark was released. A spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.

Environmentalists and a local newspaper began calling for the shark's release shortly after the hotel announced it had rescued it from the shallow waters off Dubai's coast in 2008.

Whale sharks are considered a threatened species.

Sammy the whale shark freed in Dubai
An animal of this size cannot be kept in captivity for such a long time, said president and founder of the Emirates Marine Environment Group
Emmanuelle Landais, Gulf News 18 Mar 10;

Dubai: Sammy, the whale shark that had been held in captivity in the Atlantis, Palm Jumeirah aquarium for the past eighteen months, is freed.

The release comes almost a year after a popular Gulf News led campaign had thousands of Dubai residents calling for the hotel to release Sammy. The campaign involved badges, bumper stickers, jingles and a Facebook group that attracted several thousand members.

Atlantis issued a press release stating that the mammal had already been released.

"After several months of planning, Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai has returned a female whale shark to the waters of the Arabian Gulf from where she was rescued. The Atlantis Fish Husbandry Team utilised their experience and skill to save the animal in compliance with all CITIES regulations."

Whale sharks are listed in appendix 2 of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), which stipulates that they can only be held for scientific purposes provided that it does not harm the survival of the species.

A UAE delegation is attending the CITES conference currently taking place in Doha.

Ali Bin Saqr Al Suwaidi, president and founder of the Emirates Marine Environment Group [EMEG], confirmed that the whale shark was set to be released.

“An animal of this size cannot be kept in captivity for such a long time,” he said.

The animal was being transported in a boat carrying a sufficient amount of water to allow Sammy to swim.

According to Atlantis, the hotel had been “preparing the animal for return to the ocean” during the time that it was being held. “The seasonal elements affecting water temperature, salinity and migratory patterns were perfect for enhancing her survival in the open ocean,” said the hotel.

Environmentalists had been appalled when Sammy was first captured because it is a female and a juvenile.

Whale sharks are categorized as “vulnerable” under the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list of threatened species.

Al Suwaidi said that EMEG had increasingly been campaigning for Sammy’s release during the past few months.

"We will continue to track her progress through a tagging programme co-developed with The Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida (the world’s largest scientific research organization dedicated to the study of sharks and their relatives)," said Steve Kaiser, Vice President, Marine and Science Engineering. “This will give us the opportunity to continue to learn from her and share that research within the whale shark community.”