The Giant Oceanic Manta ray (Mobula Birostris) is the largest of all rays, reaching a wing span of up to 7 meters / 23 feet and is home in tropical and tempered Seas worldwide. Most of the time the Giant Mantas are living far out at sea, following nutrient rich upwelling currents, that are rich in plankton, which is their main food source.

During their Ocean voyages the Mantas often collect parasites on their skin and so on occasion they go to cleaning stations on the reefs of volcanic oceanic islands, like Socorro, where we found our bird like friends of the Sea. But more about our wild encounter later.

Those largest members of the mobula ray family are on the endangered species list and the entire rest of this branch of rays, are joint on the vulnerable species list.

Unfortunately, their gill rakers have only recently made it into Chinese “traditional” medicine. As usual the medicinal effect is fraught with pseudo-science and there is no proof that it has any healing effect whatsoever.

Even if there was any proof for a medicinal value it would be wrong to slaughter Manta rays. They are highly intelligent animals with by far the largest brain size of any fish. They even pass the mirror test, which means they recognise themselves and are self-aware, sentient beings, much like you and I.

The very problem is that the high demand in Asia has caused a very rapid decline worldwide from overfishing within just e few decades.

A careful estimate suggests that there are only about 1.000 giant Manta rays left in world. Furthermore, the problem is that they gather in very few spots in our Oceans and the majority of their hotspots are not protected.

The giant Manta Ray consumes a lot of plankton and produces a lot of faecal matter, that feeds more plankton and helps with algae growth. The algae in our Oceans is a carbon sink, that helps us lowering our excessive CO² production.

 

A CALL TO ACTION

It’s time to act before we lose these graceful animals to a completely made up believe system. It only serves a few greedy, heartless, rich people, who sell the gill rakers of the Mantas and spread a blatant lie about a non-existing medicinal effect, to become even richer.

Embargos obviously won’t help and, signing petitions to put pressure on our politicians won’t work either. Our western dependency on trading with China is deemed to be too important in their eyes and no politician will have the guts to do anything about the Manta rays.

It is the demand that needs to be stopped. This can only happen through education.

Please help us to spread the word and share this article with as many friends, colleagues and contacts that you have and join in on protecting our winged aquatic friends. They need our help, …your help, to survive!

To show you how playful giant Mantas are I invite you to watch our latest episode with the name “Wild Encounters”, where I bond with a giant Manta ray.

There is more to the episode. It is our second part of our Mexico episodes, where we explore the underwater world of the Revillagigedo National Park.

 

“WILD ENCOUNTERS”

Revillagigedo is the largest Marine Protected Area in Mexico. It is located on the Pacific side, South West of the Mexican Baja Peninsula. The National Park has a total area of 57.000 square miles / 147.500 Km².

It is the largest MPA in the entire North American continent and home to a large amount of pelagic species like sharks, manta rays, dolphins and whales.

In this OCEANS Project episode, we visit the two main islands of the Revillagigedo National Park, San Benedicto and Socorro Island.

My friend Captain Dominique Geysen from Dive Operations Buddy and a group of young marine scientist and film makers with the name ORGCAS worked hard to obtained a special permit from the park authorities that granted us access to the park with my boat SV Oceans.

Once we had the license I set sail to Revillagigedo, with 4 members of the ORGCAS group.

We show you our encounters with the local wildlife and hope you learn more about the local species and the fascinating beauty of this very special location.

Please watch our episode “Wild Encounters” to find out all the details.

 

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