Prioritisation of future research efforts: the extension of surveys to include St François Atoll, where photo ID data show repeat visits to the atoll (a possible indicator of site fidelity). The result gives Dr Peel and her colleagues a logical next step in the Three individuals swam 200 kilometres (125 miles) south to visit the latter atoll. Thanks to a collaborative effort with other organisations in the region – the IslandĬonservation Society, Islands Development Company, Alphonse Island Limited, Blue Safari Seychelles and the Alphonse Foundation – a dedicated manta survey completed at Alphonse Atoll and St François Atoll in 2017 showed that This is crucial information, as in the future the rays may face increasing threats from fisheries in unprotected waters. Reef manta rays tracked with satellite tags from D’Arros Island and St Joseph Atoll spent up to 87% of their time in the upper water column close to the Amirantes Bank. ![]() We could identify them from photographs, and people were notifying us of repeat visits by individuals they had come to recognise. “We had suspected that D’Arros was an important site to reef manta rays because we routinely recognised individuals that returned to the island. The findings, therefore, bode well for the placement of the recently designated Zone 1 MPA around D’Arros Island it may well protect reef manta rays that spend most of their time in this area. They found that reef manta rays from D’Arros Island and St Joseph Atoll are highly resident. “The level of threat that reef manta rays face worldwide is particularly worrying given that as a species they are slow-growing and long-lived, and each female may only produce one pup every one, two or more years,” concludes Dr Peel.īy combining the data from the different methods, Dr Peel and her colleagues pieced together a holistic picture of the extent to which reef manta rays are resident within Seychelles. This includes being able to properly designate MPAs where they can protect a species that is declining in other parts of the world. Knowing where they spend most of their time helps scientists better manage their populations, even where they are not currently targeted. Reef manta rays are targeted in fisheries around the world for their gill rakers, so “But we don’t know much about their broader movement patterns in Seychelles, and that’s an important knowledge gap to address because the species faces unsustainable levels of fishing pressure globally.” Her previous work has shown that reef manta rays bring important nutrients to the shallow coral reefs around D’Arros Island from their night-time feeding grounds in deeper water further offshore. “They are intelligent creatures that play an important role inthe ecosystem,” she explains. There was a real conservation imperative that underpinned Dr Peel’s interest in manta ray movement ecology. Their time?) and vertical (where in the water column do they spend their time?) movement patterns of reef manta rays in Seychelles. She aimed to show the horizontal (where do they travel and spend most of Particular, the importance of D’Arros Island and St Joseph Atoll to reef manta rays highlights the valuable role that the marine protected area (MPA) there can play in protecting this species.ĭr Peel, a Save Our Seas Foundation funded project leader and scientist from the University of Western Australia, worked on reef manta ray data from 2006 to 2019. ![]() These results mark Seychellesas a critical site for reef manta ray conservation. The study improves ourpreviously limited understanding of where reefmantas travel in the Western Indian Ocean andshows that even large animals like manta rays canhave restricted movement patterns, sticking closelyto a preferred area. Their findings emphasise the significance of D’Arros Island and St Joseph Atoll as key habitats from which reef manta raysseldom ventured far. Scientist Dr Lauren Peel and her colleaguestracked manta ray movement patterns usingsatellite tags, acoustic tags and the identification ofindividuals from photographs (photo ID).īycombining the data from these techniques, theyshowed that reef manta rays from D’Arros Island and St Joseph Atoll were mostly resident to the Amirantes Island Group. The conservation of the reef manta ray Mobula alfredi. Environment Seychelles ideal site to protect reef manta ray |10 August 2020Ī manta breaks the water's surface, the trees of D'Arros island can be seen in the background © Dan BeechamĪ new study from the Save Our Seas Foundation D’Arros Research Centre (SOSF RDC), based on D’Arros Island, highlights the importance of Seychelles to
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