The project, created by ReShark, aims to rebuild endangered shark populations by reintroducing sharks raised in captivity to their native waters.The organization has partners all around the world, including aquariums. All of them are raising a total of 500 endangered zebra sharks in captivity, in order to release them first in Indonesia, where the wild population has been teetering on extinction.

The eggs come from Sea Life Sydney Aquarium in Australia, and they hatched in a tank in a new shark nursery in Indonesia. Once grown up, zebra sharks are released in Raja Ampat’s archipelago, where they were largely extirpated due to the Asian fin trade.

This is the first step for the reintroduction of sharks, which are considered endangered in many parts of the world.

Nothing like this has ever been tried before and shark scientists believe in the success of this unprecedented mission.