Seychelles Marks Conservation Milestone with 500th Reef Manta Ray Identified
VICTORIA, Seychelles — A decade-long collaboration among researchers, conservationists and communities across Seychelles has reached a new milestone, with the 500th individual reef manta ray identified in the country’s waters. The achievement is being hailed as both a scientific landmark and a symbol of what sustained cooperation can accomplish in marine conservation.
The milestone was reported by writer Isla Hodgson for the Save Our Seas Foundation earlier this week, drawing on the work of the Seychelles Manta Ray Programme (SMRP), the Save Our Seas Foundation D’Arros Research Centre (SOSF-DRC), The Manta Trust, Blue Safari Seychelles, the Island Conservation Society, Fregate Island and the Alphonse Foundation. The SMRP is the country’s first long-term study of manta ray biology and ecology, with the team using photo-identification of the unique spot patterns on the belly of each animal, which, like fingerprints, do not change over the course of a lifetime and are unique to each individual.
The centre has since added to its methods with the installation of MantaCam, a remote camera system that records daily visits to cleaning stations and has generated thousands of additional sightings. Dr Lauren Peel, who has been part of the SMRP for a decade, said one of the most striking discoveries has been proof of connectivity between manta populations in the Amirantes group and the rest of the Seychelles plateau. The Manta Trust’s chief executive, Dr Guy Stevens, explained that the original collaboration began a decade ago and has steadily grown, with researchers now tracking movements, residency and injury patterns across multiple sites. Around 30 per cent of the known population currently shows signs of injury, ranging from shark bites to damage caused by fishing gear and boat propellers, data that is informing national policy on marine protection.
