Welcome to MantaWatch, and to our brand new website here at mantawatch.com.
I am happy to be introducing and sharing MantaWatch with you, and I am very excited about the possibilities that MantaWatch brings. MantaWatch was formed to promote awareness, change, and the eventual solution to declining manta ray populations worldwide.
I know that many of you will immediately identify with this goal. You may be divers, snorkelers, or other marine recreational users. You may have had your own awe-inspiring encounter, and looked into the eyes of one of these incredible creatures as they watched you back. Or you may have witnessed the graceful “aquabatics” of mantas through documentaries or TV.
For others, our mission may seem strange. But I hope that as MantaWatch grows and continues to gain your support, we will be able to present you with balanced information and reports about mantas and ocean conservation, and enable you to form you own opinions as to the importance of this mission.
But at this stage I simply want to share with you the motivation behind MantaWatch.
As a marine scientist, conservationist and recreationist, I have witnessed firsthand the close connections between the world’s coastal communities and their environment. I have seen the vitality and well-being that a healthy ecosystem supports. And I have seen devastating impacts on communities and societies as a result of environmental degradation and overexploitation. I have had my own awe inspiring encounters with marine creatures, and recognise their aesthetic, spiritual and cultural values. But I am also pragmatic, and recognise all to well that conservation idealism competes with the realities of feeding families, maintaining a livelihood, and earning a profit.
With MantaWatch, we set out with a vision based on four simple ideas.
First, that manta rays are an incredibly charismatic species. They are beautiful, majestic, graceful and intelligent. Their intrinsic values resonate with us all, and offer an opportunity for capturing public opinion and raising awareness about ocean conservation.
Second, that manta populations are declining, possibly by as much as 60% over the past 30 years. Even in Komodo National Park, a place to which I have a strong professional and personal connection and where mantas support a thriving tourism economy, scientific knowledge to support management is limited, and the security of local livelihoods is uncertain.
Third, that recent advances in communication and digital technologies present new and exciting opportunities to promote public engagement and participation in manta conservation.
And finally, that these factors offer an opportunity to explore sustainable mechanisms for financing manta research and conservation, to elevate mantas from “Data Deficient” to the status and recognition they deserve.
Our goal at MantaWatch is to promote awareness, change and the eventual solution to declining manta ray populations worldwide.
The plight of manta rays is a symptom of our rapidly changing world. Solutions to these issues are essential to the well-being of all of our families, our economies and our communities – both local and global.
We firmly believe that, as members of these communities, each and every one of us has a vital role to play in identifying and implementing these solutions.
This belief drives our efforts at MantaWatch to be a vehicle for promoting social approaches to manta conservation – from empowering local communities to sustainably manage their own resources, to raising awareness for manta conservation via social networks, to crowd-sourcing broad-scale manta research and population assessments.
What we have set out to do is not a small task.
It involves learning more about manta rays via scientific research of their behaviours, population biology and ecology.
It involves understanding the economics, industries and trades that are driving manta overexploitation.
It involves raising awareness for manta conservation and how it relates to community wellbeing among the general populace and legislature.
It involves working with and empowering local communities to effect their own change.
It involves a holistic approach encompassing communities, businesses, governments, NGOs and civil society.
It involves identifying and developing sustainable mechanisms to finance manta conservation and research.
We won’t find a quick fix. And we won’t succeed alone.
You, our members and readers, are the key to success. You pledge your support for manta conservation. You act as our eyes and provide our scientists with the important data they need. You share our message and raise awareness about manta conservation. You are the champions of MantaWatch.
Over the coming weeks and months you will notice this website and our online tools continually evolving. We are developing some really exciting tools to enable you to participate and contribute to manta conservation.
To begin, we are currently developing several new tools to enable you to upload your manta sightings to our Manta Watch Photo ID project; track your personal manta encounter statistics; monitor where your mantas are seen, how far they have travelled, and how often they are seen; and help spread awareness about manta conservation issues.
At the same time we will be continuing to develop our projects “on the ground”, working with communities and the mantas themselves.
Things will be moving quickly, so please do stay with us as we take our first steps into uncharted territory. Along the way, we welcome your comments, ideas, support and feedback.
It is your passion, support and involvement that will enable MantaWatch to achieve its goal of promoting awareness, change and the eventual solution to declining manta ray populations worldwide.
Andrew Harvey
