Merry Christmas and a kickass 2026!

Dear friends, colleagues, clients, suppliers and partners!

Holy mackerel… 2025 really kept us on our toes. After countless Zoom meetings and negotiations, that stretched longer than some of our transports, we finally sealed a major contract with a new facility in the Middle East dedicated to coral restoration and conservation. This partnership took us to the Red Sea twice this year – first in February, then again in October – and marked our first steps into a region whose biodiversity and conservation ambitions are nothing short of inspiring. These trips also included a memorable journey to Kenya, where we refined our techniques for collecting in tropical waters.

But 2025 had another momentous milestone, which was years in the making. After five full years of design iterations, engineering gymnastics, paperwork that seemed to multiply by osmosis, and enough internal meetings to power a small city, our Mobile Station finally came to life. A 40-foot, temperature-controlled shipping container – funded by a generous half-million-euros EEA Grant – rolled into operational glory this June. Its inaugural voyage carried a full truckload of fish from the Canary Islands to the Al Hoceima Aquarium in Morocco. And because the universe enjoys testing us, Seville welcomed us with 47ºC heat. Yet, inside the Mobile Station, everything remained pristine. Zero losses. Exactly what we built it for.

Barely a month later came mission number two: four captive-bred sandbar sharks departing from L’Oceanogràfic in València and arriving in perfect condition at the Fish House in Stockholm. And as the year wrapped up, we closed with yet another demanding job — moving a large load of cold-water species from Norway and Denmark back to València.

We also kept our tradition alive on the academic side. In 2025 we awarded more than 10.000 euros in research grants to students, officially crossing the symbolic threshold of having given away more money than we ever received in client donations. We are genuinely proud of this – and yes, we still encourage everyone to continue adding that optional percentage to their invoices so we can keep helping bright young scientists. But, as always, we’ll continue whether donations come in or not.

Finally, let’s not forget our spectacular acrylic polishing business, with TechAquarium, which did a 5th (!) job at the Oceanário de Lisboa, and also the waterslides on a Disney cruiseliner, in partnership with our ClearRock friends.

Speaking of partnership, our Blue Shark Trading products are flying off the shelf, since we now handle all the import expenses and our European clients receive these goods hassle-free, directly from us. Check out these two promotional videos on two of our signature products, Colony and Triage, without which we couldn’t do what we do!

And now here we stand, entering 2026 – the year Flying Sharks turns 20.

That’s two decades of moving animals, solving problems on the fly, meeting extraordinary people, and relying on an ever-growing community of clients, partners, suppliers, and friends who helped us get here.

From the bottom of our slightly sleep-deprived but very grateful hearts: thank you. We truly couldn’t have come this far without you.

Here’s to 2026 – new adventures, new places, and new stories waiting to be told.

Your Flying Sharks gang of crazies

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