“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is to be understood”. This November, World Record Diving Malta’s very own Sean McGahern will be taking on a challenge by spending a target amount of hours engaging with the various species of sharks and rays found inside the exotic tank at the Malta National Aquarium. Species in this tank include black tip sharks, reef sharks, zebra sharks, horn sharks, as well as cownosed and honeycomb rays.
The main scope behind this challenge is to raise funds and awareness to protect vulnerable shark and ray species whilst encouraging people to change their mentality towards sharks, who are in fact, a misunderstood species, endangered due to the threats that are a result of human activity.
Shark fishing is largely unregulated around the world. Overfishing, bycatch and shark finning kills thousands of sharks every day. Project AWARE has helped close loopholes in the EU finning ban and secure international trade protection for 8 of the world’s most vulnerable sharks and rays. They now continue to fight to enforce controls at global levels in order to ensure the survival of more species. World Record Diving Malta would like to join the fight and help by raising funds through this event and by taking on a Finathon Challenge. Donations may be made at: http://finathon.org/finathon-malta
Sharklab-Malta, a local NGO dedicated to research, education and raising awareness about all Elasmobranch around the Maltese island, have been working closely with the Malta National Aquarium over the last few years. Projects include the rescue of unborn shark egg cases, which are collected from the fish markets and taken to the Malta National AqVuarium where they are then kept under observation until hatched. After about 6 months, the shark pups are then released back into the sea where they belong. World Record Diving Malta would like to encourage all those interested in helping out to sign up for the ‘Adopt a Shark’ campaign by visiting http://www.sharklab-malta.org/ or http://www.aquarium.com.mt/ .
Sean is very much looking forward to being a temporary guest inside the sharks' and rays’ home and hopes to spend up to 8 days in the tank without breaking the surface at any time. This would set a new Guinness World Record for the longest dive in a controlled environment. Sean and the team would like to encourage all to come and visit the Aquarium during this event. For more information follow our page at httm://www.facebook.com/WorldRecordDivingMalta.
We would also like to thank the sponsors supporting this challenge as without them this event would not be possible. These include: Adventure Diving Malta, Dare To Dive, O’Three Dry Suits Ltd UK, Scuba Essentials Malta, Seashell Beach Resort Malta, St John's Rescue Corpse Malta & Innobeam International,
For more information on the upcoming event and our sponsors kindly visit our blog at http://worldrecorddivingmalta.blogspot.com.mt/ 
