Manta Ray of Hope project

Problem:

Mantas in an Indonesian market. Photo by Shawn Heinrichs.

With global shark populations largely exploited, shark fin and dried seafood traders are looking to push additional products to make up profits. The trade in manta/mobula gills, used in an "unofficial" traditional Chinese medicine tonic, is now on the rise in China. Artisanal fisheries are transforming into commercial fisheries to meet this demand and manta/mobula populations cannot withstand the pressure.

Mantas are slow to mature (15-20 years), produce very few young (1 pup at up to 6 year intervals) and are already naturally low in numbers. As such they are far more vulnerable to depletion than even sharks and other rays. In just a few short years, regional populations of these animals have already been wiped out.

Time is running out for mantas and mobulas and we MUST move fast….

Solution:

Manta Ray of Hope project

Photo by Mary O'Malley

Shark Savers has partnered with WildAid and a team of the top manta researchers in the world on the Manta Ray of Hope project, the only concerted global effort working to save mantas and mobulas from this unsustainable trade. The goals of this project are to legislate trade bans, establish sanctuaries and encourage tourism before it’s too late for these magnificent animals.

Currently, most consumers and many traders do not even know the gills come from manta/mobula rays. Since there are so few mantas and mobulas, the scale and value of the trade is tiny in comparison to the shark fin trade.

Traditional or cultural ties to this product are not deeply entrenched (yet) and the trade (relative the shark fin trade) is small enough to garner government support for species protective laws.

View the Manta Ray of Hope video:

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We have a very real opportunity to save mantas and mobulas before the trade takes further hold and completely wipes these magnificent animals out forever!

Please donate. If you wish, your donation can be directed to this program.

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Manta Ray of Hope website

References

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Camhi, M.D., Valenti, S.V., Fordham, S.V., Fowler, S.L. and Gibson, C. 2009. The Conservation Status of Pelagic Sharks and Rays: Report of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group Pelagic Shark Red List Workshop. Newbury, UK: IUCN Species Survival Commission Shark Specialist Group, x +78 pp.

Dewar, H. 2002. Preliminary report: manta ray harvest in Lamakera. Report to the World Wildlife Fund.

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Mohanraj, G., Rajapackiam, S., Mohan, S., Batcha, H., and Gomathy, S. 2009. Status of elasmobranchs fishery in Chennai, India. Asian Fisheries Science, 22: 607-615.

Notarbartolo di Sciara, G. 1995. What future for manta rays? Shark News, 5: 1.

Rajapackiam, S. Mohan, S. and Rudramurthy, N. 2007b. Utilization of gill rakers of lesser devil ray Mobula diabolus – a new fish byproduct. Marine Fisheries Information Service, Technical and Extension Series, 191: 22-23.

Stevens, J.D., Bonfil, R., Dulvy, N.K. and Walker, P.A. 2000. The effects of fishing on sharks, rays and chimaeras (chondrichthyans), and the implications for marine ecosystems. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 57: 476-494.

White, W. T., Giles, J., Dharmadi, and Potter, I. C. 2006 b. Data on the bycatch fishery and reproductive biology of mobulid rays (Myliobatiformes) in Indonesia. Fisheries Research, 82(1-3), 65-73.

White, W., and Kyne, P. 2010. The status of chondrichthyan conservation in the Indo- Australasian region. Journal of fish biology, 76(9), 2090-2117