Improved national and regional protection

We were also a key player in the successful listing of mobulid rays on Appendices I and II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) in 2014. Countries that are Range State Parties to a species listed on the CMS Appendix I commit to strictly protecting that species by ‘prohibiting the taking of such species’. They should also endeavour to ‘conserve, and where appropriate restore, the species’ habitats; preventing, removing or mitigating obstacles to their migration and controlling other factors that might endanger them’. This can be a challenge, particularly in locations where communities depend on fishing for these species for their livelihood.

Therefore, together with the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Manta Trust developed a Concerted Action proposal for mobulid rays, which was adopted at the CMS CoP in 2017. The document outlines clear objectives and actions that will help parties to implement their obligations under the CMS. It also serves as an opportunity for parties to collaborate and share and propagate conservation knowledge, monitor the progress of work and generate coordinated actions. At the 2nd CMS Memorandum of Sharks convention, the Manta Trust became an official collaborating partner to the CMS, joining other international NGOs such as the Shark Trust, Project AWARE and the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Data put out by the Manta Trust and its collaborators, in combination with concerted efforts to liaise with decision­makers, led several governments to declare national protection of manta rays (and in some cases also devil rays) over the past decade: Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and the Maldives in 2014, Peru in 2016 and Thailand in 2018. Indonesia’s decision to protect manta rays was a major breakthrough, as the nation is one of the largest exporters of mobulid products. Peru’s protective measure is crucial for the region because oceanic manta rays Mobula birostris migrate between Peruvian and Ecuadorian waters and evidence points to this being the largest-known population of this species in the world. Thailand officially declared measures to protect 12 marine species by adding them to its national protected list in 2018, including all six species of manta and devil rays seen in Thai waters. This means it is now illegal to kill, trade or possess any of these species. In terms of oceanic manta tourism, Thailand is the second most popular place in Asia to dive with these gentle giants and manta tourism generates millions of dollars for the country each year. The Manta Trust has also been fundamental in driving protection at a local scale, such as through the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs). Our most successful example was the creation of the Hanifaru Bay MPA as part of the Baa Atoll UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in the Maldives.

Better species-specific knowledge

Research by the Manta Trust’s projects and network has improved knowledge about individual manta and devil ray species. Relatively little research was conducted on these species for most of the 20th century, but in recent years public awareness and scientific interest in them have increased greatly. Through our network, we have published more than a dozen scientific papers and provided data for the IUCN’s Red List reassessments of manta rays and three species of devil rays.

In 2018, we assembled 30 leaders and emerging experts in the fields of mobulid biology, ecology and conservation and, in order to facilitate improved science-based management of mobulids, produced a scientific publication that identifies pressing knowledge gaps. The Manta Trust’s chief executive, Guy Stevens, published his PhD findings from a 14-year study that shed light on the entire courtship and mating behaviour of manta rays using behavioural observations, video and photographic records. And our genetics project leader, Jane Hosegood, submitted her manuscript ‘Phylogenomics and species delimitation of mobulid rays reveals cryptic diversity and a new species of manta ray’. This paper shows robust evidence for an undescribed species of manta ray in the Gulf of Mexico and for the resurrection of a recently synonymised species, M. eregoodootenkee, and generates a taxonomic framework to support effective management and law enforcement strategies.

As part of the GMCP, we conducted research into the catching of mobulid rays in key fishing countries to inform policy and management decisions. By collecting detailed data that shed light on the shark and ray fishery in a fishing hotspot in Java, Indonesia, we compiled the most comprehensive dataset on the fishery in this location, while interviews with fishers provided socio-economic information to support the dataset. Through our local partner, we monitored fisheries in Sri Lanka and documented over 10,000 elasmobranch specimens (all sharks and rays) over more than 500 survey days across eight main survey sites. And again through a local collaboration, we collected 18 months of data on the elasmobranch fishery in Guinea, West Africa.

Thanks to an agreement with Australia’s James Cook University, these data are in the process of being published and have already been presented to relevant governments. This work ties in with our charity objective of building capacity for community members. We were particularly proud to hear that one of the two Indonesian interns employed and trained in monitoring the elasmobranch fishery received a job offer as a fisheries researcher from the Indonesian government. This is the true aim of building capacity: to provide the tools and expertise for talented local people to continue this important work even when Manta Trust projects and their funding come to an end.

Global road map

The Manta Trust has developed a global plan for mobulid conservation that incorporates the directions set forth by the IUCN’s Shark Specialist Group and the CMS Concerted Actions. Over a year in the making and funded by the Shark Conservation Fund and the Save Our Seas Foundation, the Global Strategy & Action Plan outlines what actions need to be taken to ensure the long-term survival of mobulid rays. We started out by defining our overall vision: to see all manta ray species and their relatives protected or effectively managed for sustainable or non-consumptive use by the people closest to them and in a way that promotes wider ocean conservation. Then, by asking what is preventing this from happening right now, we identified the key threats that still exist: targeted fishery, by-catch, unregulated tourism and the indirect threat from environmental degradation, which includes climate change and pollution. Through a theory of change approach, we defined the individual factors that influence the threats and what actions need to occur to eliminate or reduce each one. We then defined the priority, cost, scale, time and responsible party (NGOs, governments, industry) needed to tackle individual actions, and developed graphic illustrations of our thinking. While global in scope, the strategy highlights how the Manta Trust fits into it all, as well as the areas where we believe we can be most effective as part of the wider conservation effort. The Global Strategy & Action Plan was officially launched at the 3rd CMS Sharks MoU meeting in 2018, held at the breathtaking Oceanographic Museum in Monaco. It is now publicly available to download from our website.

New research methods

Pioneering and testing new research methods is an important part of the Manta Trust’s work and in 2015 it joined forces with the National Geographic’s Crittercam team and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, to attach Crittercams to wild mantas for the first time. There are so many unanswered questions about manta rays’ behaviour. Why, for example, do they dive so deep? What do they eat in each season? Why do they congregate in certain areas? These are interesting from an ecological perspective, but also for conservation: if we can work out what mantas are eating at certain times of year, based on those food sources, it becomes easier to predict where they will be. A big threat to manta rays is accidental fishing, or by-catch, so by identifying their feeding grounds we get a better idea of where the rays are most vulnerable to being caught.

The team set off for the Revillagigedo Islands off central Mexico’s Pacific coast and for the first time ever cameras were successfully attached to the animals. A year later, we undertook another expedition with the same team to Raa Atoll in the Maldives. The Crittercams filmed more than 24 hours of onboard footage of reef manta rays Mobula alfredi, capturing some extremely exciting and revealing behaviour. For the first time, we were able to observe what these rays do when they leave the atoll’s reefs and venture into deeper water away from humans. We also used advances in technology to carry out ultrasounds on wild manta rays underwater and investigate the reproductive biology and behaviour of these species in the Maldives.

The Maldivian Manta Ray Project (MMRP), the founding project of the Manta Trust, has developed into an active and integrated research and education programme that spans the entire Maldives archipelago. It employs a dozen full-time members of staff and operates in partnership with half a dozen resorts and dive centres. Now in its 15th year, the MMRP hosts six volunteers and several MSc students as part of its research internship programme every year. A successful crowd-funding campaign, ‘Eyes on the Reef’, was launched to uncover the hidden habits of reef manta rays by using remote underwater camera rigs installed at cleaning stations and, in collaboration with Manta Expeditions, the Manta Trust conducted its first Citizen Science Expeditions in the Maldives half a decade ago.

The MMRP takes part in numerous educational festivals in the Maldives every year. In 2016 it launched the Maldives Education Programme (MEP), which focuses on enhancing the development of local community members, students, staff and schoolchildren, particularly with regard to marine biology and conservation. As part of this programme, a PADI Manta Ray Speciality course for snorkellers and divers was developed and implemented at several resorts across the Maldives and has now been extended to schools and local communities in Baa Atoll, Laamu Atoll and Lhaviyani Atoll. The programme includes a component that focuses particularly on empowering young women to engage in marine conservation and research. In October 2018 the MMRP organised the first Manta Festival, which was held at the island of Dharavandhoo in Baa Atoll.