Sharks are increasingly housed in public aquaria and studied in the wild. Their welfare needs — from spatial requirements to sensory stimulation — are poorly understood but increasingly studied.
The welfare of sharks in captivity varies enormously by species. Coastal benthic species — nurse sharks, wobbegongs, small catsharks — can be housed successfully in well-designed aquaria. Open-ocean pelagic species including white sharks, hammerheads, and whale sharks cannot. Their physiology, sensory systems, and spatial needs cannot be met in any current aquarium. Progressive institutions acknowledge this and have stopped attempting to display these species. The welfare argument converges with the conservation argument: wild shark populations are better served by open-water research and in situ experience (shark diving) than by aquarium display of individuals that suffer and die in captivity.