{"id":32465,"date":"2023-01-17T16:44:49","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T16:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/new-study-confirms-a-world-first-international-migration-of-reef-manta-rays"},"modified":"2023-01-17T16:49:08","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T16:49:08","slug":"new-study-confirms-a-world-first-international-migration-of-reef-manta-rays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/new-study-confirms-a-world-first-international-migration-of-reef-manta-rays","title":{"rendered":"New study confirms a world-first international migration of reef manta rays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. <\/strong><\/span>New research by the Marine Megafauna Foundation has extended the southern range of the reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) in Africa, connecting the longest monitored and highly vulnerable population of reef manta rays in southern Mozambique to the UNESCO World Heritage site of iSimangaliso in South Africa. Citizen science contributions combined with opportunistic fieldwork in South Africa, resulted in the extension of the species\u2019 southern range by approximately 140 km to Mdumbi Beach and has provided the first confirmed international movement records for the species, highlighting gaps in knowledge to encourage more focused research on manta rays along the east coast of Africa.<\/p>\n

Dr. Andrea Marshall, one of MMF\u2019s principal scientists who oversaw the project, shared her excitement about the findings, saying, \u201cAs highly mobile species, reef manta rays are capable of long-range movements, so it was only a matter of time until we documented international exchange between the waters of adjacent countries. We are thrilled to have finally confirmed this for the first time through rigorous, long-term research efforts along the south-eastern coast of Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

MMF\u2019s manta ray research program in Mozambique has been monitoring the southern Mozambican population for over 20 years, making it one of the longest and most comprehensive manta ray studies globally. Our previous work has found a steep decline in manta ray sightings over the past two decades, highlighting it as an at-risk population. A critical part of the team\u2019s focus is to better understand where and how far this species moves in order to guide effective management solutions.<\/p>\n

Dr. Stephanie Venables, who also completed her PhD thesis on the Mozambican manta ray population, noted that \u201cThese cross-border movements are an important finding, as they demonstrate the need for cooperative species management between the neighbouring countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Public contributions helping marine research<\/b><\/p>\n

Citizen science played a significant role in the study with the SCUBA diving community submitting ID photos of mantas in South Africa to MantaMatcher.org. Manta Matcher, the Wildbook for mantas and other rays, is the global online database for rays. It is open access, and easy to use which allows for the cross-referencing of regional databases using automated pattern matching algorithms, which can lead to exciting discoveries like this one. Anna Flam, global manager of Manta Matcher says,\u201dCitizen science contributions were critical to this research. The first two transboundary movements were detected with public submissions to Manta Matcher, showing how people everywhere can contribute to conservation science.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nakia Cullain, a PhD student at Dalhousie University and manager of MMF\u2019s southernmost field station in Zavora, was not surprised to learn that these animals have connectivity to South Africa. \u201cSeasonality of mantas at Zavora and limited connectivity to Tofo has always suggested southern movements,\u201d said Cullain. \u201cAlthough we are just beginning to brush the surface of these movements, these findings are a huge step forward in helping us to inform the management and conservation of the species within southern Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Potential nursery habitat detected from the air<\/b><\/p>\n

Janneman Conradie, MMF pilot and field researcher, was surprised the first time he saw a reef manta ray during an aerial transect at the Sardine Run, which takes place every year along the Wild Coast of South Africa\u2019s Eastern Cape Province. However, after 100 days of flying, totalling 335 hours of survey time, he was convinced it was no coincidence. \u201cAt first it did not seem like the right habitat for them, but with increased sightings we had to concede that this area may in fact be a nursery habitat for reef mantas, with all encountered individuals being less than 2 meters in length.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michelle Carpenter, PhD candidate at the University of Cape Town, who began managing South Africa\u2019s manta ray photo-ID database in 2020 (including Aliwal Shoal and Sodwana Bay) was excited and encouraged by the matches. \u201cSouth Africa has been a missing piece of the puzzle for some time and there is still a lot of work needed to understand manta ray habitat use here. At first it was overwhelming to narrow down hotspots and build up a photo ID database along such a large coastline, but citizen science support has been instrumental to the process. It is a great example of how public contributions can directly support research.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conservation and management of manta rays<\/b><\/p>\n

Andrea and the MMF team were proud to work with the Ecuadorian government to help champion the initial listing of giant oceanic manta rays on the Convention for Migratory Species (CMS) in 2011, using data from tagging studies to demonstrate the highly migratory nature of this species. The subsequent addition of reef manta rays to the appendices of CMS in 2014 was justified by the highly mobile nature of manta rays, despite the lack of direct evidence to support international exchange of individuals between countries. \u201cWe are pleased that our research efforts continue to produce data that can be used for the ongoing conservation and management of manta ray species, particularly off southern Africa where populations are under significant threat.\u201d Dr. Marshall concludes.<\/p>\n

The study, entitled \u201cSouthward range extension and transboundary movements of reef manta rays Mobula alfredi along the east African coastline\u201d was published in the Journal of Fish Biology in December 2022<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mozambique<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. New research by the Marine Megafauna Foundation has extended the southern range of the reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) in Africa, connecting the longest monitored and highly vulnerable population of reef manta rays in southern Mozambique to the UNESCO World Heritage site of iSimangaliso in South Africa. Citizen science contributions combined with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":32464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[233,281,283],"class_list":["post-32465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mozambique","tag-mozambique"],"yoast_head":"\nNew study confirms a world-first international migration of reef manta rays - Mozambique<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New research by the Marine Megafauna Foundation has extended the southern range of the reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) i ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/new-study-confirms-a-world-first-international-migration-of-reef-manta-rays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New study confirms a world-first international migration of reef manta rays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New research by the Marine Megafauna Foundation has extended the southern range of the reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) i ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/new-study-confirms-a-world-first-international-migration-of-reef-manta-rays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mozambique\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-17T16:44:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-17T16:49:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673961316.17.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"629\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/new-study-confirms-a-world-first-international-migration-of-reef-manta-rays#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/new-study-confirms-a-world-first-international-migration-of-reef-manta-rays\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"New study confirms a world-first international migration of reef manta rays\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-17T16:44:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-17T16:49:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/new-study-confirms-a-world-first-international-migration-of-reef-manta-rays\"},\"wordCount\":885,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/new-study-confirms-a-world-first-international-migration-of-reef-manta-rays#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673961316.17.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mozambique\",\"Mozambique\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/new-study-confirms-a-world-first-international-migration-of-reef-manta-rays#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/new-study-confirms-a-world-first-international-migration-of-reef-manta-rays\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/new-study-confirms-a-world-first-international-migration-of-reef-manta-rays\",\"name\":\"New study confirms a world-first international migration of reef manta rays - 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