Well, it’s nearly the end of the year and what an incredible year it has been for us at Ocean Park Aquarium!
We would not be able to do what we do here in glorious Shark Bay without your support and so we’d like to take this opportunity to extend a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who has been part of our journey throughout 2022.
The year has ended on a high with our beloved tiger shark, Boof, being released back into the wild. Working closely with a research team from the University of Western Australia, a video tag was at times placed on Boof to track his movements within the Ocean Park tank that he called home for the past few years.
When we released him back into the wild, the same video tag was placed on him to monitor his movements in the hours after being returned to the open ocean. This is a ground-breaking project because, so far, there really hasn’t been a study conducted that has compared the movements of one shark in an aquarium and then back in the wild. The information collected is valuable to learning more about the important requiem shark species.
Keen to know – and see – more about this project? You can check out this Sequeira Lab blog about Boof and even catch a look at him swimming underwater. A study has been written up on this research and we’re keen to share the details when it’s published, so stay tuned.
We are also grateful to the Gathaagudu Animal Tracking team for donating their time to assist us with Boof’s release.
That’s it from Ocean Park for 2022!
We hope you all enjoy an amazing Christmas and that we see you again in 2023 (or sooner if you’re holidaying in Shark Bay over the festive season!)
2023 is shaping up to an exciting year for us, and we can’t wait to share our adventures with you as they unfold.
With thanks,
The Ocean Park Team