A couple of weeks ago, I received the news that 2 manta rays at the Marine Life Park in Sentosa died. (Two manta rays at Resorts World Sentosa's marine park die)
This topic is extremely close to my heart as I have dived and freedived with manta rays many times, volunteered for manta conservation efforts and did my own research project on them. Read about my manta experiences here: Project Manta
I wonder what the justification for getting more mantas was. After all, the park already has 3 manta rays. Given that these animals are classified by the IUCN as Vulnerable, and have population trends that are decreasing, my personal opinion is that it was not necessary to capture more mantas from the wild to keep them in the aquarium.
Some people might say this is a good educational opportunity for those who will never see mantas in the wild. I have already demonstrated my view of the "catch and display one(or more) for the good of many" idea in a previous post about captive cetaceans - To be free. I firmly believe that there are other ways to educate the general public and that it is really not necessary to display an animal in captivity to the masses in order for them to learn about it.
To prove my point, I would like to share my personal experience.
Growing up in Singapore, I never saw any live mantas up close and personal. The closest I got was on the television in nature documentaries. When I started diving, I was dying to see one in the water! So when I heard about Project Manta. I jumped at the chance to not only see mantas in the wild, but to help with research about them. One thing lead to another and before I knew it, I was doing my own research project on the rays, as part of the Project Manta team. So you see, it was actually because I had never seen a manta ray before that really motivated me to make the effort to see them in the wild. Imagine what this could do for ecotourism if most people thought the same way!
One thing that aquariums and zoos could do if they wanted to display big animals with a large home range is to display life-sized models or even the skeletons of those animals. Standing under a skeleton of a whale or crawling through its fake aorta is quite awe-inspiring! Furthermore, these models could be used in a much more interactive manner than a live specimen.
Despite this, I do appreciate and applaud the conservation efforts of the S.E.A Aquarium (of which the Marine Life Park is part of). They recently announced a collaboration with Conservation International to tag 30 mantas in the waters surrounding Indonesia, which could result in more information being known about their lifestyle. As they say, knowledge is power, and hopefully this power will be used to form plans to effectively protect these amazing creatures. More information about the project can be found here: http://www.rwsentosa.com/Portals/0/RWS/pressroom/2014/PressRelease-MantaRayTagging.pdf
I hope with all my heart that no more mantas have been or are going to be brought in to replace the ones that died at the Marine Life Park.
This topic is extremely close to my heart as I have dived and freedived with manta rays many times, volunteered for manta conservation efforts and did my own research project on them. Read about my manta experiences here: Project Manta
I wonder what the justification for getting more mantas was. After all, the park already has 3 manta rays. Given that these animals are classified by the IUCN as Vulnerable, and have population trends that are decreasing, my personal opinion is that it was not necessary to capture more mantas from the wild to keep them in the aquarium.
Some people might say this is a good educational opportunity for those who will never see mantas in the wild. I have already demonstrated my view of the "catch and display one(or more) for the good of many" idea in a previous post about captive cetaceans - To be free. I firmly believe that there are other ways to educate the general public and that it is really not necessary to display an animal in captivity to the masses in order for them to learn about it.
To prove my point, I would like to share my personal experience.
Growing up in Singapore, I never saw any live mantas up close and personal. The closest I got was on the television in nature documentaries. When I started diving, I was dying to see one in the water! So when I heard about Project Manta. I jumped at the chance to not only see mantas in the wild, but to help with research about them. One thing lead to another and before I knew it, I was doing my own research project on the rays, as part of the Project Manta team. So you see, it was actually because I had never seen a manta ray before that really motivated me to make the effort to see them in the wild. Imagine what this could do for ecotourism if most people thought the same way!
One thing that aquariums and zoos could do if they wanted to display big animals with a large home range is to display life-sized models or even the skeletons of those animals. Standing under a skeleton of a whale or crawling through its fake aorta is quite awe-inspiring! Furthermore, these models could be used in a much more interactive manner than a live specimen.
Despite this, I do appreciate and applaud the conservation efforts of the S.E.A Aquarium (of which the Marine Life Park is part of). They recently announced a collaboration with Conservation International to tag 30 mantas in the waters surrounding Indonesia, which could result in more information being known about their lifestyle. As they say, knowledge is power, and hopefully this power will be used to form plans to effectively protect these amazing creatures. More information about the project can be found here: http://www.rwsentosa.com/Portals/0/RWS/pressroom/2014/PressRelease-MantaRayTagging.pdf
I hope with all my heart that no more mantas have been or are going to be brought in to replace the ones that died at the Marine Life Park.
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