Endangered Great White Shark at Twosome? "Temporarily Protected for Rescue Purposes"

"Took the Shark from Gampo Port Fish Market...
Now Released Back into the Wild"

Controversy has arisen after a great white shark was found at a large cafe in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk. The cafe explained that the shark was being temporarily protected for rescue purposes, not for exhibition, and stated that it has now been released back into the wild.

A controversy arose after a great white shark was found in the large aquarium of a major cafe in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk. Online community capture

On June 5, various social networking services (SNS) and online communities shared photos and videos showing a great white shark swimming alongside hundreds of other fish species, such as striped beakfish, in an underground aquarium at a Twosome Place branch in Gyeongju. After seeing this, online users voiced concerns, stating, "An endangered shark should not be confined in such a small space," fueling the debate. Located at Gampo Port in Gyeongju, this branch is also known as an unusual cafe with a large aquarium in its basement.

According to international animal rights organizations such as PETA, the great white shark is a species unsuitable for captivity. When kept in aquariums, there is a significant risk that the shark may die. In fact, in 2016, a great white shark displayed at the Churaumi Aquarium in Okinawa, Japan, died after just three days, and all major aquariums in advanced countries that have attempted to capture and keep great white sharks have also seen them perish shortly after.

The great white shark is also classified as an endangered species under Appendix II of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). However, it is not included in the list of marine protected species designated by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, so there are currently no clear domestic standards regarding the capture or keeping of this species. For this reason, Korean experts have been consistently urging the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries to expand the list of protected shark species.

As reports concerning the great white shark at this cafe continued, the cafe explained, "It was temporarily protected for rescue purposes, not for exhibition." The cafe added, "We saw the shark being sold at a live fish market near Gampo Port, felt sorry for it, and brought it here. We did not intend to keep it permanently." They also stated, "We originally planned to release it before it reached adulthood, but due to the unexpected attention and reports, we released it earlier than planned, on June 2."

Meanwhile, the term “great white shark” is derived from the fact that the animal’s underside is white, and it is also known as the “white shark” or “white pointer.” The great white shark is one of the shark species known to attack humans. In Korea, they migrate from the East China Sea and South China Sea to the Yellow Sea to give birth, and due to global warming, sightings have also been reported in the Yellow Sea and East Sea. While the great white shark is the apex predator of the marine ecosystem, it is also classified as a vulnerable species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.