MONTEREY, Calif. -- Staff at the Monterey Bay Aquarium released a young great white shark back into the wild early Wednesday morning, sending her into the Pacific Ocean with two tracking tags to communicate her whereabouts and other data that will help biologists better manage this threatened species.

The female shark - the aquarium only names animals when necessary for training or feeding purposes - is the fifth great white to be temporarily exhibited at the institution.

She was released shortly after sunrise near the southern tip of Monterey Bay, according to spokesman Ken Peterson. To start this process, staff members waited at the surface of the aquarium's Outer Bay exhibit with a net he described as "an oversized version of what you use to catch butterflies."

After a few attempts, the 5-foot-5-inch long shark was secured in the net and quickly transferred to "what amounts to a gurney filled with oxygenated sea water," Peterson said. Following some measurements, her next stop was a "shark box" transported down to the street via forklift, then lifted onto the back of a truck with a crane.

Once the shark arrived at Monterey's commercial fishing wharf, she was transported to a boat, then taken out near the southern tip of the bay and slid slowly back into the water.

Since 2002, the aquarium has taken in five young sharks, some caught in fishing nets, from the waters off of Southern California. The animals spend some time in the aquarium's Outer Bay exhibit, giving visitors a rare opportunity to view the ecologically vulnerable ocean predators up close. Great white sharks are increasingly threatened by fishing operations and maligned by humans, according to Peterson.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is the only institution with a successful track record of keeping great white sharks on exhibit for long periods of time. The animals are sensitive to aquarium conditions and often stop eating in captivity.

The aquarium has kept sharks for as long as 198 days before releasing them back into the ocean, according to Peterson. The latest young female shark was collected near Malibu in August and released after 69 days. Staff determined she was ready to go because her behavior became increasingly aggressive with the exhibit's other occupants over Halloween weekend.

"She got a little bit of a bite on her face and was chasing another shark," Peterson said.

During her stay in the Outer Bay exhibit, the shark grew two inches in length and gained 20 pounds.

Before the shark's departure, aquarium staff outfitted her with two electronic tracking tags. One will transmit information in real time about her location.

"Every time her dorsal fin breaks the surface, we will get a satellite reading on where she is at the moment," Peterson said.

The other device, resembling a small handheld microphone, will record six months worth of data on the shark's travels, how deep she dives and the temperature of the waters she favors.

The information transmitted by the aquarium's five sharks, plus scores of others tagged in the wild, helps biologists track how sharks move, and better understand the threats they face, particularly those created by humans.

"They're an important ocean predator, and they are particularly vulnerable when they're young," Peterson said. "Either they're targeted in fisheries for other sharks, or they get accidentally caught in commercial gear."

The aquarium is planning some renovations to its Outer Bay exhibit, and will not seek another young great white shark until summer 2011 or later.