On a trip to a live fish resturant in Kota Kinabalu, one of our volunteers was so dismayed by the sight of live coral cat sharks for sale in the aquariums that they bought all the sharks to save them from being eaten. The sharks remained in the rstaurant tanks until we could organise the transport across to Semporna and out to the island. The initial purchase was 12 sharks but the restaurant aquired an additional 13 before we came to collect our live sharks so we eventually bought and transported 25 small coral catsharks. These were transported to the island in a large ice chest filled with water and oxygen. There was no mortality or signs of stress when the sharks were released into the sea at high tide in front of the TRACC camp and Celebes Beach Resort. Some of the sharks swam off but most were content to hide in or near the rocks on the reef slope.The next morning no sharks could be found but since they are nocturnal we expected them to hide during the day.
The sharks were seen occasionally on night dives over the next month so hopefully they will settle down and become resident.
Stay posted as we report on sightings and shark activity.
Video 2015
update jan 2016