Are public aquariums in California now prohibited from catching new fish and sharks for their tanks?

[HomerSimpson101]

I am asking this because the Monterey Bay Aquarium has less sharks in their tanks compared to 20 years ago. Are they now prohibited from catching sharks from the wild and placing them in their display tanks, even if it is for educational purposes?

 

[Shellheart]

I am asking this because the Monterey Bay Aquarium has less sharks in their tanks compared to 20 years ago. Are they now prohibited from catching sharks from the wild and placing them in their display tanks, even if it is for educational purposes?

I don't believe anything significant has changed in public aquarium catching permit laws, in fact not long ago the Monterey Bay Aquarium was able to capture and temporarily display an ocean sunfish, and on recent visits to SeaWorld San Diego and the Aquarium of the Pacific, the exhibits are still well-stocked. Even on my visit to the MBA last year, they seemed pretty well-stocked to me. Without direct number-based comparisons between twenty years ago and now, it's hard to say if anything has indeed changed, but it could also reflect a change in the aquarium's standards, or even potentially several animals passing away at similar times causing a brief low-stock period.

 

[ConcernedThirdParty]

I am asking this because the Monterey Bay Aquarium has less sharks in their tanks compared to 20 years ago. Are they now prohibited from catching sharks from the wild and placing them in their display tanks, even if it is for educational purposes?

Are you talking about total stock or diversity of stock?

As noted in this thread, Monterey previously did a lot of experimentation with some rarer (at least in captivity) shark species and determined that most of them we not suitable for long term captivity.

Footage of Rare Pelagic Sharks at the Monterey Bay Aquarium [Monterey Bay Aquarium]