Manta Rays – the name alone conjures up images of graceful underwater acrobatic creatures soaring along sheer walls or hovering over shallow cleaning stations. These spectacular giants are so popular with divers and snorkelers that a single animal can 'earn' more than $1 million over its lifetime for local eco-tourism.
Despite the massive popularity and lucrative tourism value of mantas, these graceful and gentle giants are rapidly disappearing due to extreme fishing pressure. Much like sharks are mutilated for their fins and rhinos for their horns, rays are mutilated for their gill rakers, which are used by practitioners of Chinese medicine as an unproven “health” tonic.
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