PROTECTIONS & MANAGEMENT

While international, regional and national protective legislation for manta and devil rays has improved in recent years, there is still a much greater need for well managed protective legislation throughout the ranges of all manta and devil ray species globally. A few dozen countries have taken the lead in mobulid ray conservation, protecting these species to differing degrees within their territorial waters. Unsurprisingly, many of these nations also derive significant economic benefits from manta and devil ray tourism activities.

key PROTECTIONS

40 COUNTRIES

(National Protections for Manta and Devil Rays)

CITES

(Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora)

CMS

(Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals)

T-RFMOs

(Tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organisations)

BBNJ_closing+plenary%40IISD-ENB_Mike+Muzurakis.jpg

National and International protective legislation for manta and devil rays resulting from either dedicated country-specific legislation or international conventions to which the countries are a party.

Progress and Gaps in Mobulid Protection

There are different geographical scopes to mobulid protection. Globally, manta rays were listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in 2013, and devil rays were added in 2016. This legislation means that party nations must demonstrate that any trade in mobulids or their derivatives between member states is sustainable and non-detrimental to the survival of the species. In addition to CITES, all manta and devil ray species are listed on Appendices I and II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS), prohibiting take of mobulids from their natural environment by party nations, with restricted scope for exceptions.

Manta and devil rays are also protected through regional legislation and conventions (Caribbean SPAW Protocol, Bern, and Barcelona Conventions), and through retention bans adopted the Tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (t-RFMOs) and the European Union. These bans prohibit retaining on board, trans-shipping, landing, storing, selling, or offering for sale any part or whole carcass of manta or devil rays caught in the regional convention areas covered by each t-RFMO, or by EU vessels (see section below).

Worldwide, forty countries (and ten states/territories) have enacted protective legislation for manta and devil rays to differing degrees within their territorial waters.

Regional fisheries management

Mobulid rays occur throughout the world’s tropical and subtropical oceans, with a few species seasonally venturing into temperate oceans as far as 45 degrees north and south of the equator. However, not all manta and devil ray species are circumglobal in their range (see map below). Industrial fisheries (especially those targeting tunas) are a major source of mobulid mortality throughout their ranges. These fisheries are managed at the ocean-basin scale by four tuna Regional Fishery Management Organisations (t-RFMO); the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). Now that mobulid ray bycatch retention is now prohibited by all the t-RFMOs, effective conservation management requires stock assessments which align with these regional t-RFMOs, and the data required to assess stock assessments relies upon accurate catch identification.

Mobulid species by region, based on the four tuna Regional Fishery Management Organisations (t-RFMO).

Fishing+Trip_Muncar%2C+Indonesia_2024_Jasmine+Corbett-1.jpg

Spatial protections

To effectively ensure the long-term survival of a species in the wild you must also ensure the protection of its habitat, especially those areas of critical importance to its survival, such as mating, feeding or birthing grounds. Protecting habitats to safeguard a specific species also helps to ensure the protection of all the other species within that habitat that also depend on it for survival.

Identifying the areas of habitat that are most important for the protection of a species is just the first step on the road to successful and effective protection. The next step – designating these areas for protection – is an even more difficult process, often met with conflict and political frustrations. Once protective legislation exists on paper, the task of enforcing and effecting the sustainable management of these regulations is essential to gain real conservation benefits.

Spatial protection is most commonly achieved though the designation of marine protected areas (MPAs) - geographically distinct zones managed for long-term conservation of key species and habitats and in for which protection objectives are set and human activities are limited. Some examples of important MPAs which, through their creation, have helped to safeguard areas of critical devil ray and manta habitat are the Revillagigedo Archipelago (Mexico), the Komodo National Park (Indonesia), Yap (Micronesia), Hanifaru Bay (Maldives), Chagos Marine Reserve (Chagos), St. Helena and Ascencion Islands (British Overseas Territory).

The current goal of the Global Biodiversity Framework is to designate 30% of the world’s oceans as MPAs, including strictly protected areas (commonly known as “no-take” zones). Regardless of these ambitious targets, the latest statistics point at less than 10% of MPA coverage worldwide, most of it not being effectively monitored or managed. MPAs are usually met by opposition from fishing communities and international commercial fishing enterprises, which claim this will reduce the amount of fish they will be able to catch. However, research has repeatedly shown that the opposite often occurs, with spill-over catches occurring in the surrounding waters outside the MPA increasing the total catches for the fishermen, while still preserving the core protected areas and species populations within the MPA.

An oceanic manta ray in Revillagigedo Archipelago National Park, Mexico

Mass feeding reef manta rays in Hanifaru Marine Protected Area, Maldives

Shark & ray sanctuaries

As of 2022, 29 countries and overseas territories have declared shark sanctuaries, no-take protected areas, or other protective measures that prohibit shark fishing within their national waters. However, among these protective measures, only seven countries (i.e., Cook Islands, Dominican Republic, Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Maldives, Palau and Samoa) can be considered ‘Shark and Ray Sanctuaries’. These areas may not necessarily exhibit all the same characteristics of an MPA; however, they include measures that prohibit shark and ray fishing that cover the full Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) and have a legal status of banning all shark and ray catch, landing and trade within their territorial waters.