Last month, I had the privilege of going to one of the most amazing little islands I've ever been to (Lady Elliot Island) to volunteer with Project Manta.
Project Manta is research program based at The University of Queensland, Brisbane. It was founded in 2007 to find out more about the population of manta rays along the east coast of Australia. Because despite the interest in manta rays from divers, very little was known about them. (Though we know more now, thanks to this project and others like it, there's still much more to find out!)
I first got involved with Project Manta in 2011 as an Earthwatch volunteer. At that time, I had never dived with mantas before and was attracted to the prospect of diving with and contributing to research about them at the same time. And I wasn't disappointed! I fell in love with these charismatic, gentle fish the first time I saw them underwater. Being in the water with these guys is simply breathtaking!
On the trip, I helped take identification photos, enter data on sea and weather conditions and manta behaviour recorded when mantas were seen, and collect plankton for studies on their feeding behaviour. All this information is used to get a better understanding of manta ray biology, which in turn helps with their conservation (they are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List).
After this experience, I was hooked! So, when I got the opportunity to, I did my own research project on manta rays and got involved with Project Manta again. Since then, I continued to volunteer with them, taking photo ID shots on breath hold and then identifying the mantas/ - an experience I greatly value.
If you would like to get involved with the Project, see how you can help here: https://sites.google.com/site/projectmantasite/home/get-involved. The project relies heavily on "citizen science" (i.e. help from YOU). You might even get to name a manta!
For Manta conservation in other regions around the world, check out this website: http://www.mantatrust.org/
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| The charismatic manta ray |
I first got involved with Project Manta in 2011 as an Earthwatch volunteer. At that time, I had never dived with mantas before and was attracted to the prospect of diving with and contributing to research about them at the same time. And I wasn't disappointed! I fell in love with these charismatic, gentle fish the first time I saw them underwater. Being in the water with these guys is simply breathtaking!
On the trip, I helped take identification photos, enter data on sea and weather conditions and manta behaviour recorded when mantas were seen, and collect plankton for studies on their feeding behaviour. All this information is used to get a better understanding of manta ray biology, which in turn helps with their conservation (they are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List).
After this experience, I was hooked! So, when I got the opportunity to, I did my own research project on manta rays and got involved with Project Manta again. Since then, I continued to volunteer with them, taking photo ID shots on breath hold and then identifying the mantas/ - an experience I greatly value.
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| Feeding time!! Mantas swim with their mouth open to collect plankton, which is then filtered out by their gill plates. |
Besides Lady Elliot Island, Project Manta gets manta ID shots from North Stradbroke Island, another hotspot for mantas, and all the way up and down the coast of eastern Australia from everyday divers.
If you would like to get involved with the Project, see how you can help here: https://sites.google.com/site/projectmantasite/home/get-involved. The project relies heavily on "citizen science" (i.e. help from YOU). You might even get to name a manta!
For Manta conservation in other regions around the world, check out this website: http://www.mantatrust.org/
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