Assisted breeding programme for endangered sand tiger sharks launched in Dubai

Gulf News

Assisted breeding programme for endangered sand tiger sharks launched in Dubai. Dubai Aquarium to save endangered sand tiger sharks through artificial insemination and gene storing. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

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00:00Dubai Aquarium marked a historic world's first with the launch of the assisted breeding program

00:13for one of its star inhabitants, the sand tiger shark.

00:16Dubai Aquarium has the largest population of sand tiger sharks, also known as the grey

00:21nurse shark, in and an aquarium.

00:23The species is listed as ecologically vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation

00:29of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.

00:32With the project, there is a big hope to protect endangered sand tiger sharks from extinction

00:37for at least another 100 years.

00:39The breeding program uses artificial insemination and a gene bank will be used to hold the genes

00:45of sand tiger sharks.

00:47Sand tiger shark population in the world dropped to an estimated 1,500.

00:51Without intervention, it is expected to be extinct in the next three decades.

00:56Sand tiger sharks are unique because the females only breed every two years with a maximum

01:02of two pups.

01:03Now that the aquarium is established and we've been operating for more than five years now,

01:07our attention is moving towards conservation.

01:09So what we want to do is be a cornerstone of the animal world and play our part in learning

01:16about the different species and what they need to reproduce and survive in the wild.

01:22So this is certainly a new phase for us and we're looking forward to making our contributions

01:26to conservation.

01:33Now we have a large number of sharks here that are not seen often around the world.

01:39So the reproduction of sharks is something that science doesn't really have a good understanding

01:44of and shark populations worldwide are declining and understanding what a shark needs to reproduce

01:50is critically important.

01:51So we're starting work on some projects like a shark artificial insemination project where

01:57we can learn the reproductive cycles and exactly when sharks need to mate and gestation periods

02:04and try to create the entire cycle here inside the aquarium.

02:07That information is then fed back to our counterpart scientists in the wild and it can help them

02:13make decisions, inform decisions when looking at wild populations.

02:18One project in particular that we're working on is Carcharis taurus or the sand tiger shark.

02:24Now in some parts of the world this shark is critically endangered and despite the fact

02:28that they're creating marine parks and conservation areas for these sharks, the population still

02:34declines.

02:35In these circumstances the scientists really need to know about the reproductive cycle

02:40of the animals and how if necessary we can actually intervene with captive breeding programs.

02:48So one thing we're working on here is Carcharis taurus and artificial insemination.

02:53Scientists from Australia where the sand tiger shark is critically endangered are actually

02:57flying to Dubai Aquarium and they'll be spending months with us working with our animals and

03:02trying to create that understanding.

03:03A cryogenic lab has been set up to support the program and visitors will be able to see

03:08the work being done and the behind the scenes operations of the aquarium.

03:13The long-term project will develop technology that could eventually be used to artificially

03:18inseminate various species of sharks.

03:21Airish Iden-Belieza for Gulf News.

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