TEAM HUNTS WHITE SHARK TO UNLOCK ITS MYSTERIES.

Byline: Grace Lee Staff Writer

A research team with the Monterey Bay Aquarium set out Wednesday from the Channel Islands Harbor in the second season of a program to learn about one of the ocean's largest predators: the great white shark.

The five-member team had hoped the boat ride to Paradise Cove in Malibu would end in the capture of a young white shark - one that could be studied and displayed at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

``Right now, their lives are a great unknown,'' said Randy Kochevar, science communications manager with the Monterey Bay Aquarium. ``We're in a good position to unlock some mysteries.''

In Wednesday's hunt, the team landed - and freed - a squirming mako shark.

``It's the perfect size but the wrong species,'' noted aquarium curator John O'Sullivan.

But a white shark, the same creature that inspired the ``Jaws'' movies, remained elusive.

Still, the team has several more weeks to find an occupant for a free- floating, 5 million-gallon pen that lies just off Point Dume.

As part of a three-year, $1.2 million project now in its second year, the team aims to catch a shark younger than a year and ensure it's in healthy condition before releasing it into the pen. Observation of the ``young of the year'' - a shark about 4 feet long and 70 pounds - can shed light on what they eat and where they travel, researchers said.

Researchers believe Southern California is a pupping ground for the sharks, which are protected in the state.

So far, the longest time a white shark has been kept alive in captivity is 21 days.

In addition to seeking young sharks for capture, the research team expects to tag adult white sharks with a monitoring device that will relay information to scientists.

With the help of a rapid-response team that includes other aquariums and partners, the researchers hope to keep tabs on the sharks from Ventura to San Diego.

Through the project, Kochevar said, scientists also hope to clear up misconceptions about white sharks.

``If people had the opportunity to see white sharks swimming in the wild, they would see they're majestic, power-dominant. They're beautiful,'' he said. ``This is a beautiful animal. We should recognize them for not being a beast but something we should understand and protect.''

While acknowledging that the white shark ``can do the worst thing to a human - kill them,'' he emphasized that the chances of being killed by a falling soda machine or coconut are far greater.

In fact, said aquarium curator Christina Slager, sharks have more to fear from people that the other way around.

``We kill millions of millions of sharks in a year,'' she said. ``People capture them for trophies, for their jaws and for their teeth for jewelry.''

Researchers said that by bringing attention to the white shark, especially through a display, they also can underscore the need to conserve the oceans.

Grace Lee, [phone]

hrace.lee(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) A fishing vessel passes the 5 million-gallon shark pen that lies just off Point Dume.

(2) Fisherman Ken Bates, left, and John O'Sullivan, a curator for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, release a mako shark.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer