Research & Conservation

Sharklab Malta

Malta National Aquarium has been collaborating with Sharklab Malta in a recovery and release programme of two species of local cat shark species, Nursehounds and Lesser spotted cat sharks. Sharklab Malta visit the fish market in Valletta daily to report the amount of shark species that are landed and check whether or not they have egg cases inside them.

These egg cases are taken out and brought to the Malta National Aquarium for further development, until they hatch naturally. They are displayed to the public visiting in our tanks at the Malta National Aquarium.

Both Sharklab Malta and the Malta National Aquarium have since organised three shark releases in order to give these species a second chance at life in the Sea.

Next step in our project will be “to tag”: we would like to try to tag some of the sharks that we release in the sea in order to increase our biological understanding of elasmobranch population in the Mediterranean Sea.

Sharklab Malta spend a couple of weekends a year promoting awareness of shark conservation at the Aquarium by bringing egg case specimens, shark jaws and activity sheets for kids to learn. They also have been promoting an ‘Adopt a shark’ programme for kids who want to donate to the NGO and monitor the progress of their pups. This can also be purchased at the Malta National Aquarium, along with membership information to become a member of Sharklab Malta.