Participants at the district government meeting

It has been an important couple of days in Labuan Bajo, with many stakeholders working together to further the implementation of the West Manggarai and Komodo manta ray and shark sanctuary.

The Marine and Fisheries Agency of West Manggarai hosted the “Preliminary Meeting For The Development of Scientific Documents in Support of a Regional Regulation on Shark and Manta Rays Management in West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara”. Participants at the meeting included the Marine and Fisheries Agency, Tourism Agency, Planning Agency, Komodo National Park Authority, WWF, Coral Alliance, Reef Check Indonesia, EAFM (Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management) East Nusa Tenggara, tourism operators, and of course MantaWatch.

Everyone worked together to identify issues related to shark and manta ray management in West Manggarai, and to identify solutions. Collaboration was identified as an important strategy in West Manggarai.

MantaWatch Director Andrew Harvey presented some of the marine megafauna encounter data uploaded to mantawatch.com by divers and dive operators over the past four years. This information showed long-term population trends and distributions within West Manggarai. The data also highlighted some management recommendations – when boat traffic on dive sites increases fewer mantas are seen, suggesting that speed limits or carrying capacities should be established.

The meeting aimed to identify supporting data and capture issues and needs to be incorporated into a scientific review of shark and ray management in West Manggarai. This scientific document will provide the foundation for upgrading the existing shark and manta ray sanctuary legislation to a more powerful and long-lasting district law.

Andrew Harvey highlights the benefits of collaboration between industry and government