Golden Nugget Shark Tank

[Pinkpadigal]

Got back from Vegas this morning. We wandered through the Golden Nugget and they have a shark tank in the middle of their swimming pool. Most of the sharks are very small, black tips. I was with a group of non-divers, and I started naming all the different fish. A crowd surrounded me and people started asking me questions, like I was some sort of a marine biologist or something.

It typical Vegas-fashion, you could buy a "I dove the shark tank" tee shirts.

It found it very, very sad. The sharks were well cared for, but the tank was really too small for the amount of fish in it. My guess it was less than 30 feet.

[runamonk]

That's how I felt when I saw the tigers they had in another one of the casinos. It really bummed me out, the cats seemed well fed and were certainly taken good care of but still a little sad. :(

[Sounder]

I wanted a shark tank but Mrs. Sounder said no. Something about it having to be large enough to fill our whole living room got in the way. I dunno. It doesn't seem like that big of a problem to me.

[Cera]

Uggg... I can't even go the pet stores anymore let alone an aquarium I also start crying at the humane society... I guess I am a softy.
Its too bad that they make so much money off these tanks and they keep popping up everywhere.

[BbbleMkr]

I think we forget sometimes how fortunate we are to be able to recreate in an elite environment where the critters swim free of constraints or dependence on providers. There are many people, through ignorance or providence, who will never share in the quiet wonder of our world. Even if they were curious, the nearest they might get is the water's edge--fearful, perhaps--of what moves beneath.

The only way some of those folks will ever experience what we can, every day if we wanted, will be through aquariums. If well managed, would you take that bridge away from them?

And don't forget the future divers. Where do you think they get their dreams of swimming fish? In warm waters, maybe when they snorkel and actually move in their schools, they can touch what it's like to SCUBA, but here in 46 degree water, the next generation of divers get their inspiration from the aquarium.

I loathe the mistreatment of fish and invertebrates, but I encourage the active connection of the public with what lives under the water and the zealous conservation of the same. If we can't take non-divers under the water, we can take the water to them and show them why it's worth protecting.

dd

[coachrenz]

Great points BbbleMkr.

As a sometime volunteer for the aquarium, I know that they struggle with this as well. How can you promote conservation and preserving the natural world and still take animals from the wild and put them into a tank?

It is a trade off.

If the general public doesn't ever get an opportunity to see the cool stuff that we as divers get to see on every dive, how can they appreciate that it is even there and needs to be taken care of?

As a HS science teacher, I do what I can to get kids interested in the living world. I keep animals in my classroom (at one point I had 125 different species in my room), I show them pictures from my dives, and most of all, I try to convey my love and passion for the world around me, especially the critters in the Puget Sound.

The one domino damsel that I have in my salt water tank is well worth not having it in the wild. Most of my students will never get the opportunity to go see one in the wild and many will not even ever make it to the Seattle Aquarium. Yes, I teach in Tukwila, and it is only about 15 minutes away, but, my really low income students hardly ever make it to Seattle.

Sorry for the early morning rant.

[Sounder]

I like the aquarium... the vis is great!

[Cera]

I ment the small mismanaged tanks not the aquariums. (I should have typed clearer) I just don't go to the aquarium, I understand they are useful for science and non-divers... just like zoos I suppose, doesn't mean it can't make me sad.