M Marine Animals and Human confinement. When applied to public aquaria or Care Toward Effective zoos, this term has recently been changed to Conservation of the Marine human care, since “captivity” had a rather nega- Environment tive charge to it. Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture João P. S. Correia concerned with animals that are raised for meat, Instituto Politécnico de Leiria & Flying Sharks, fiber, milk, eggs, or other products. It includes Peniche, Portugal day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the rais- ing of livestock. The collection of marine animals is the act of Definitions removing them from nature and placing them under human care. There are multiple methods A public aquarium (plural: public aquaria or for doing so safely, the majority of which public aquariums) is the aquatic counterpart of a described by Correia and Rodrigues (2017). zoo, which houses living aquatic animal and plant specimens for public viewing. Most public aquaria feature tanks larger than those kept by Introduction home aquarists, as well as smaller tanks. Since the first public aquaria were built in the mid- Zoological parks (i.e., zoos and public aquaria) nineteenth century, they have become popular, emerged at the end of the nineteenth century as and their numbers have increased. Most modern “windows” into the natural world, at a time when accredited aquaria stress conservation issues and the general public had no means to access, or visit, educating the public (AZA 2007). such wonders. One century later, these institutions Animals that are held by humans and pre- face growing controversy, and an increasing choir vented from escaping are said to be in captivity. of voices that beckon for their immediate termi- The term is usually applied to wild animals that nation and release of all captive animals back to are held in confinement but may also be used the wild. While some institutions have indeed generally to describe the keeping of domesticated failed in complying with modern legislation animals such as livestock or pets. This may (e.g., the European Union’s “Zoos Directive,” include, for example, animals in farms, private regulated by Council Directive 1999/22/EC of homes, zoos, and laboratories. Animal captivity 29 March 1999), the vast majority have adopted may be categorized according to the particular this directive and, in fact, surpassed its scope. motives, objectives, and conditions of the © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Life Below Water, Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71064-8_64-1 2 Marine Animals and Human Care Toward Effective Conservation of the Marine Environment Marine Animals and Human Care Toward Effective Conservation of the Marine Environment, Fig. 1 Oceanário de Lisboa. Photo by Michał Maćkowiak Quoted directly from the European Commis- calls on Member States to adopt measures for the sion, “The Zoos Directive seeks to promote the licensing and inspection of zoos in order to ensure protection and conservation of wild animal spe- that zoos respect certain conservation and protec- cies by strengthening the role of zoos in the con- tion measures, including appropriate accommoda- servation of biodiversity. In practice, the greatest tion of the animals. efforts for the conservation and sustainable use of Member States are responsible for applying the biodiversity need to focus on measures in the provisions of the Zoos Directive and ensuring wild. This is the primary focus of the EU’s policy: their necessary enforcement. There is a very lim- through the Birds and Habitats Directives, the EU ited EU role in implementation as the Directive Biodiversity Strategy, the Regulation on Invasive does not foresee the need for a committee or Alien Species and EC wildlife trade regulations reporting obligations to the Commission. How- implementing CITES, all of which contribute to ever, a lot of good practice approaches have achieving objectives of the Convention on Bio- been developed to help zoos increase their contri- logical Diversity & other international bution to biodiversity conservation. agreements.” It is this chapter’s objective to demonstrate However, protecting wild animal species out- how these goals are being met – and surpassed – side their natural habitat is also important for by a vast number of public aquaria, most likely the biodiversity conservation. In this context, the EU majority. adopted Council Directive 1999/22/EC of For more information visit https://ec.europa. 29 March 1999 on the keeping of wild animals eu/environment/nature/legislation/zoos/index_ in zoos. The Zoos Directive aims to strengthen the en.htm. role of zoos in the conservation of biodiversity. It Marine Animals and Human Care Toward Effective Conservation of the Marine Environment 3 Those who do not secure a job in the zoological every oral presentation done in specialty confer- parks world – which includes zoos, aquaria, shel- ences themed on captive care held around the ters, rehabilitation centers, etc. – are often sur- world. While access is not free, the content of prised by two main traits that are personified by these thousands of talks, given by professionals all individuals that work in this field. The first is an in this field, offer valuable insight into state-of- unwavering respect – indeed passion – for animal the-art husbandry practices, including the trials life and the well-being of all organisms, both and errors that come with pushing boundaries on captive and wild. The second is the lengths to a new subject. which these professionals will go to ensure the Multiple professionals involved in this field quality of the lives of those animals under their have written memoirs in which the constant strug- care, which includes complete and utter sharing of gle for the improvement of the well-being of the information among all who work in this field. This animals under their care is blatantly patent, such openness is unparalleled in any other industry, as Clark (1969), Powell (2001), and Correia with companies typically striving to get ahead of (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019), among others. Like- others while protecting their secrets. Nothing wise, the transport of marine animals from their could be farthest from this philosophy when it collecting grounds to their end destination, and comes to the human care of wild animals, with also between institutions that strike breeding platforms such as ZIMS (Zoological Information loans among each other, is subject to a myriad of Management System – www.species360.org) technical and operational difficulties, with those linking (electronically) hundreds – indeed thou- involved in this field freely sharing their expertise sands – of zoological institutions around the with their peers. Some examples include Smith globe, who freely share husbandry information (1992), Correia (2001), Young et al. (2002), Smith regarding the animals under their care with each et al. (2004a), Correia et al. (2008, 2011), Rodri- other. Such information ranges from dietary needs gues et al. (2013), and Correia and to pathology, medications, and surgical events, in Rodrigues (2017). a rare display of selfless distribution of informa- Modern zoological parks have put a healthy tion, the likes of which are not easily found in distance between themselves and “old” zoos and other areas. As an example, Conde et al. (2019) aquaria that offered little more than (literally) a recently reported on the need for demographic window into exotic species. At the dawn of the data – namely, birth and death rates – to be incor- twenty-first century, these institutions are at the porated in effective conservation policies for wild forefront of conservation and educational efforts animal populations throughout the world. Regret- throughout the world, and this chapter will pro- tably this data is quite often inexistent, but zoos vide multiple examples of these efforts while and aquaria – mostly through the aforementioned debating their significance in the struggle to pre- ZIMS link among institutions – provide such serve natural habitats. information on an increasing scale. It is therefore the objective of this chapter to The Elasmobranch Husbandry Manuals I and demonstrate how public aquaria all over the world II (Smith et al. 2004b, 2017) are another prime may assist the UN’s Sustainable Development example of an impressive compilation of informa- Goal (SDG) 14, specifically in bringing it to the tion, specifically on sharks and rays, covering attention of the public’s eye while, simulta- every conceivable aspect of elasmobranch hus- neously, funding activities in each of these areas. bandry techniques. These books are distributed freely throughout the Internet by their editors and also the authors of nearly 100 chapters, who UN’s Sustainable Development Goal generously donated their time and expertise to favor better husbandry practices worldwide. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) “Animal Professional” (www.animalpro 14 consists of Conserve and sustainably use the fessional.com) also offers electronic access to oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable 4 Marine Animals and Human Care Toward Effective Conservation of the Marine Environment development (SDG14). These are broken down Guidelines on the Transfer of Marine Technol- into ten separate areas of action, listed below: ogy, in order to improve ocean health and to enhance the contribution of marine biodiver- 14.1 By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce sity to the development of