Giant manta rays found off Galveston coast now threatened
Giant manta rays are being added to the threatened species list by the federal government, a move that could mean more funding opportunities for the young ray population recently discovered in the Gulf of Mexico.
Last year, scientists discovered an unusually large population of juvenile manta rays at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, a system of protected coral reefs about 100 miles off the coast of Galveston. There are two main species, the giant manta ray and the reef manta ray, and both are listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
But starting Feb. 21, the species found at the banks, the giant manta, will be added by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to the threatened species list under the Endangered Species Act.
“This is definitely a good thing,” said Josh Stewart, a California-based manta expert, who identified the juvenile population in the Gulf.
Both over-fishing and tourism were listed by NOAA as potential threats to the mantas in its endangered species report. Also listed was pollution and boating traffic.
Emma Hickerson, a sanctuary research coordinator, previously said this move likely would open up funding opportunities to study the population at the banks.
On Thursday, she added that the designation was “definitely a step in the right direction for this species.”
“There is much to learn about these animals ... and this designation will help strengthen the justification for future research proposals,” she said.
When species receive a threatened or endangered designation, Stewart said the federal government usually establishes critical habitat for them “in an effort to
protect the most important places species rely upon.”
This has not yet been done for giant mantas, and that “definitely highlights the importance of identifying areas (such as the banks) that are important to these species so that they can be considered for designation,” Stewart said. “Hopefully this will spark renewed interest in the spatial ecology of oceanic mantas in U.S. waters to identify those important areas and support the listing.”
The Flower Garden Banks, made up of three coral reef systems, is one of 13 federally designated underwater areas protected by NOAA. That protection allows researchers to study manta rays in somewhat of a bubble. By learning what is threatening the mantas in the area that NOAA protects, they can help researchers understand what might be threatening the species as a whole.
A NOAA proposal to expand the banks by about 383 square miles of reefs and other bottom features — an additional 15 banks — has yet to be approved by the Trump administration. Previous studies have shown that the mantas travel between the three banks and beyond, and if additional banks were protected, scientists say it would make it easier to study the habits and potentially learn where they are coming from.