(editor's note: A difficult challenge for oceanic conservation efforts is the inability to "see" how species habitat and living systems have changed. Recently, satellites helped visualize the Manta Ray for a study that is leading to increased protection for these amazing ocean giants.
Rather than become disheartened by the negative news of mainstream media, I challenge you to look deeper -to find healing earth heroes in your own community. There are people all over this beautiful jewel we call Gaia working every day to correct the damage we have done. They are doing the physical clean up work, or putting the intellectual thought into solving these problems. Please join me in sending them all energies of love and support.
~All my Love, Boo)
First Satellite Tag Study for Manta Rays Reveals Habits and Hidden Journeys of Ocean Giants
Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the University of Exeter, and the Government of Mexico have published the first-ever satellite telemetry study on the manta ray, the world’s largest ray species. The findings will help inform ecosystem-based management plans for the rays, which are in decline worldwide due to fishing and accidental capture. (Credit: Photo credit: Kaile Tsapis)
"Almost nothing is known about the movements and ecological needs of the manta ray, one of the ocean's largest and least-known species," said Dr. Rachel Graham, lead author on the study and director of WCS's Gulf and Caribbean Sharks and Rays Program. "Our real-time data illuminate the previously unseen world of this mythic fish and will help to shape management and conservation strategies for this species."
Like baleen whales and whale sharks, manta rays are filter feeders that swim through clouds of plankton with mouths agape.
The research team also found that the manta rays spent nearly all their time within Mexico's territorial waters (within 200 miles of the coastline), but only 11.5 percent of the locations gathered from the tagged rays occurred within marine protected areas. And the majority of ray locations were recorded in major shipping routes in the region; manta rays could be vulnerable to ship strikes.
