Aquarium whale shark swim program draws flack from Cousteau and others
The new “Swim With Gentle Giants” program at the Georgia Aquarium which allows swimmers and divers to enter the tank with the whale sharks is being criticized by some marine experts. The LA Times reported that Jean-Michel Cousteau and George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, both felt the repeated habitat incursion could further stress the whale sharks and lead to illness and death for the gentle giants. While the $290 per person fee is raising money for the aquarium, the experts point out that there is no greater educational experience to be gained by going in the tanks as opposed to watching through the glass. Aquariums worldwide have had great trouble keeping whale sharks alive in captivity and this could make that track record even worse.