A Saturday afternoon sharky adventure, Flying Sharks style
July 18, 2024
Research Fund 24/05 :: Vítor Oliveira
July 21, 2024
If you love classic movies, then you’ll recognize the title of this post as one of the most famous movie endings of all time. If you guessed ‘Casablanca’, you guessed right, and you probably guessed we will be focusing our attention on the exotic Kingdom of Morocco, where the almighty Al Hoceima aquarium is about to open.
While conversations about this mammoth project began with our friends from Clear Reef many years ago, the last few months had us scrambling like headless chickens, trying to collect and stabilize nearly 7.000 fish and invertebrates, including some very challenging species, such as our friend – the sardine! If you haven’t read our story about collecting Sardina pilchardus, we urge you to do so immediately after reading this tale of bravery and resilience!
While the big kahuna had to travel with the family to Serbia to attend the first birthday of a pair of twins – something unmissable in Balcanic culture – the rest of the team loaded two semi-trucks with 3304 aquatic souls, which included 1800+ Scomber colias, 470+ Sardina pilchardus, and a wonderful suite of Epinephelus marginatus, Phycis phycis, Helicolenus dactylopterus, Trigloporus lastoviza, Scophthalmus maximus, Argyrosomus regius, Anthias anthias, Symphodus cinereus, S. bailloni, S. melops, Ctenolabrus rupestris, Pagellus acarne, Raja montagui, R. undulata, and Xyrichthys novacula, not to mention some Trypterigion delaisi, and Atherina presbyter as well.
If you think that list was impressive, wait until you read the list of invertebrates: Maja squinado, Palinurus elephas, Ophidiaster ophidianus, Scyllarus arctus, Paracentrotus lividus, Charonia lampas, Asterina gibbosa, Tritia reticulata, Steromphala umbilicalis, Marthasterias glacialis, and Ophioderma longicauda.
Phew, let’s catch our breath after that long list and we’re delighted to report residual losses in transit, which were mostly among the tiniest of our invertebrate friends.
But this transport wasn’t all roses, because the team had to endure 14 fun hours of customs clearance in Tangiers, and even some panicky moments when the documents of one of the two trucks were lost, but then miraculously recovered. Oh well, over the years we have learned that the concept of “pre-customs-clearance” is but a myth…
Anyway, here’s a heartfelt THANK YOU to our awesome team before and during the transport, and also our valuable partners in this monumental endeavour:
Tunipex, our set-net partner since 1997, trusted supplier of Scomber, Mola mola, and soooo much more. Special thanks to captain Alfredo and his awesome crew! We couldn’t do this without you!
Our new purse-seining friends in Peniche, Quim and João, whose extraordinary assistance allowed us to collect over 500 Sardina pilchardus in two beautifully successful fishing trips, which resulted in pristine quality animals and residual losses in the 4 weeks that followed. See the video below of these animals feeding within minutes of arrival to Al Hoceima!
And, of course, our superb Flying Sharks team, whose devotion to this cause is only matched by their commitment to the welfare of all animals under our care.
Finally, big thanks to our mate Gonçalo, former Flying Sharky and now client. It was fantastic to see the phenomenal job he’s doing and we can’t wait to return with two more truck loads!
Let’s do this!
