[Coral-List] Accreditation

[Brian Nelson]

Yes Charles you are correct:

http://www.aza.org/FindZooAquarium/Bahamas/index.html

To ask a thought provoking question: How does any institution (Zoo,
Aquarium, School, University, Hospital or any other thing) gain
accreditation by the "authorities" in their field?  That institution
must show that it can fulfill its mission successfully and uphold
industry standards.  How can a brand new institution be expected to hold
credentials, voluntary ones at that, which have to be earned without a
history of operation?

-Brian


Message: 5
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2008 10:38:56 -0700
From: "Delbeek, Charles" <cdelbeek at calacademy.org>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Atlantis Dubai whale shark
To: "Sarah Frias-Torres" <sfrias_torres at hotmail.com>,	"William
	Allison" <allison.billiam at gmail.com>,	"coral-list coral-list"
	<coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Message-ID:
	<D6A836974C189D4AAFB7BBC34FA2BF6C555346 at yoshi.calacademy.org>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

Actually the Georgia Aquarium has FOUR whale sharks and they were
collected
in Taiwan.

Just because an institution does not belong to AZA or WAZA does NOT mean
it
is not capable or competent to keep marine life in captivity. Joining
these
associations is a matter of choice, it is not a requirement. Being in
such as
association ensures that certain standards are being met, but those
standards
can still be met or even exceeded whether you are a member or not. Also,
it
is not uncommon for new institutions to take a year or more to become
accredited due to the extremely involved process and amount of paperwork
that
needs to be done; this can take up to two years. So even though Palm
Dubai is
not currently affiliated with any association it does not mean they
won't
soon be. Their sister institution in the Bahamas is accredited by AZA I
believe.

Sincerely,

J. Charles Delbeek

Reopening in Golden Gate Park  9.27.08

**************