Interesting Ethical Debate

[ScottT1980]

Just thought this might be of interest to all the arm-chair ecologists of RS (myself included):

2 foot nurse shark re-release?

It is an RC link so apologies upfront.

Take er easy
Scott T.

[Witfull]

so much ado about nothing!...i guess Jerel will have the death algae sprouting soon! personally, i would have snatched it up at that moment, taking tank and shark back to my house. even if i didnt want the shark, i would jump at snagging the equipment. a half hour of drain and drag and its mine. then i would have delt with the shark issue.

[johnlewis]

I saw that one yesterday, I bet he regrets posting the plea for help. I would have said yes I can take care of it but I need the equipment, and a letter from the landlord stating that it (the shark) was left by the Tennant. Then I would have contacted fish and wildlife or just took it to the ocean.

[Brucey]

JL . . . . good call. Take the tank and equipment and then let the poor thing free to pay for the guys time and expenses.
Brucey

[Curtswearing]

I'm not sure....even if it was disease free, will it hunt? How long has it been raised in captivity?

Keiko the killer whale (Free Willy) wouldn't leave the humans voluntarily for the longest time and would come "home" to be fed dinner.

[ScottT1980]

I don't know Curt, the real difference I see is that we are dealing with a lower-order "fish" (aren't the chondricthyes considered to be lower "evolutionarily than the osteichthys?) vs. a mammalian neurology.

In other words, is domestication a factor with sharks? Can sharks be domesticated?

I don't know the answers to any of these questions, just some thoughts.

BTW, I murdered my latin, please forgive...

Take er easy
Scott T.

[Craig Manoukian]

I just can't believe there could be that much risk with one native species Nurse Shark being returned. What pathogens exist in an aquarium that don't exist in the wild? Trillions of gallons of water surrounding the State of Florida.

No different than the release of hatchery raised trout to streams and lakes here in the Sierra Nevada Mtns. Most of the trout are non-native/introduced in the 1700s and 1800s to begin with. No ecological catastrophie here.

[Curtswearing]

Yes.

However, the "shark tour operators" (don't even get me debating this issue) have "domesticated" sharks. They prefer not to hunt unless necessary. The sharks prefer to congrate at the dinner table at the assigned time to be fed chum.

[ScottT1980]

True Curt, I wasn't trying to debate it more or less, especially knowing that the very idea of "evolution" and "higher or lower species" can get a bit hairy and is certainly not dogma in many minds.

THinking a bit more, when I was in Belize, there was a spot with an enormous number of nurse sharks that had been conditioned by a countless number of fishermen dumping scraps, fish, etc... into the water. So, I suppose "domestication" is vague but sharks can certainly be conditioned (as can our fish).

I really enjoy the issue because I see both sides...

Craig, introduction is such a heated debate in the sciences only because of the devistation seen. My gut tells me it is perfectly safe to release the fish, but the "what ifs" are a bit scary. The only real point that I saw was the feeding of non-local foods, but I think that is highly unlikely (its not like we import Fiji food for our Indo-PAcific species).

Fun stuff, keeps the brain moving for sure...

[reefjitsu]

What a joke! I am glad to see so many common sense arm chair ecologist wannabes on RC jumping in to add their two cents. Well guess what the world does NOT work the way that common sense would tell you that it does. You cannot simply rerelease an animal to the wild for a number of reasons. Some of the reasons have already been covered in the RC thread, things like disease, and the possibility that the shark has been conditioned to see man as a food source or at least as a food provider. However, the biggest reason for not rereleasing the shark has not been covered by anyone.

When releasing any animal back into the wild it is important to release as closely as possible to the original spot of collection so that you don't screw with the natural flow of genes for that species. Nurse sharks from the Atlantic side of FL are going have slightly different genes from those on the Gulf side for instance. While it may be true that there is some natural flow of genes between the two populations, to introduce an animal from the Atlantic breeding pool into the middle of the Gulf population's breeding pool could cause all sorts of problems for the Gulf population's genetics. We don't even know where this shark was originally collected, it might be from Belize. This is of course a greatly simplified explanation and the dynamics of populations are vastly more complicated.

My point is simply this; while well intentioned, the shark should not be released into the wild. If a suitable home cannot be found for it. it must be humanely euthanized.

Also, Craig I think you were kidding in your post, but just to reinforce. The introduction of non-native fish such as trout to western lakes and streams has had some devastating ecological consequences.

[BoomerD]

No different than the release of hatchery raised trout to streams and lakes here in the Sierra Nevada Mtns. Most of the trout are non-native/introduced in the 1700s and 1800s to begin with. No ecological catastrophie here.

Only to play a bit of the devil's advocate here Craig, I guess if you were "representing" one of the native species that got crowded out or wiped out by the importation of these non-native species, you'd view it a bit differently. HOWEVER, myself, I prefer the taste of a nice "German Brown" to that of some chub or suckerfish that might have been one of the natives...That's NOT the issue though, and so...
Releasing the nurse shark MIGHT be a benign issue, sice there are nurse sharks off the coast in Florida, but what if it's a species from Brazil or somewhere, and there's a slight difference in it someway? Then "we're " responsible for changing the breed in someway...
To me, while it may seem like the right thing to do, there are too many unknown variables to make it a responsible choice...

[ScottT1980]

The most valid point I have heard reefjitsu, one that I should have thought of but did not, well stated...

[Cougra]

I just can't believe there could be that much risk with one native species Nurse Shark being returned. What pathogens exist in an aquarium that don't exist in the wild? Trillions of gallons of water surrounding the State of Florida.

I would like to add to the disease bit of this debate. The pathegens that exist in our aquaria come from all over the world and thus the animals exposed to our tanks are exposed to diseases from the Indo-Pacific, Red Sea, Atlantic ocean etc. Now any fish caught from the wild and introduced to the tank needs to combat all these diseases and although most of the ones that survive are able to do this. Now that the fish (Shark in this case) in our tank have been exposed to this plethera of different disease, although the fish to be released is able to survive disease, how do we know that the area the fish is released into won't be in optimal conditions for disease to flourish and attack a whole population of fish that has no defences against it?

If you honestly think this isn't possible, there are plenty of documented cases of this happening amoung humans, most prominant one that comes to mind is small pox and the native indians.

No matter how slim the chance of that happening is I personally wouldn't want to take the risk.

[johnlewis]

OK everybody is a expert let God sort it out, or just chop it into shark steaks. The truth is no one is sure about how any of this works we are just starting to understand a fraction of what is going on in our ecosystem lets take in to consideration this could have been the shark that carried the gene allowing all nurse sharks to be immune to some horrible disease, or this could be the shark that introduced a mutated gene into the shark population evolving them into land sharks. All kidding aside and science the guy was just looking for some advice not genetics and an ecology lesson.


Scott you lit it up here too

[reefjitsu]

The truth is no one is sure about how any of this works we are just starting to understand a fraction of what is going on in our ecosystem

This statement is simply untrue. While it is true that science doesn't know everything there is to know, we still know alot about what is going on, and much more than what is generally recognized by John and Jane Q. Public. The guy was looking for advice and was receivng alot of advice from people who are uninformed or simply misinformed and misguided. The genetics and ecology lecture came into play in the attempt to provide that advice and in order to clarify the reasons why this shark should not be returned to the ocean. It is simply not worth the risk to an entire population of sharks and the ecosystem in order to save one shark.