Sammy the whale shark finally released

The Marine Connection is delighted to report that 'Sammy' the whale shark, held in captivity at the Atlantis hotel on Dubai's Palm Island, has been released after 18 months of being used as a tourist attraction. She was released back into waters of the Arabian Gulf.

Margaux Dodds comments “We joined the worldwide camping over a year ago to help free this shark and it was encouraging that it wasn’t only conservation groups fighting to have this animal released but thousands of Dubai residents also who joined the campaign with the “Free Sammy" Facebook campaign attracting more than 26,000 members. 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 which in our opinion certainly was not the case in this instance with the Palm Atlantis”.

Sammy has been tagged for monitoring and ongoing research. Whale sharks can live in the wild to over 70 years of age and travel across thousands of miles. As the whale shark is said to be in good condition there will be hopefully no impact over its growth rate whilst being held at the aquarium. The Palm Atlantis also holds wild caught dolphins taken from waters around the Solomon Islands.