Blog | Saving Ocean Giants From Extinction

The Marine Megafauna Foundation is a global nonprofit that works to save threatened marine life through research, education, and sustainable conservation solutions. 

As marine megafauna are facing a myriad of threats, MMF teamed up with marine researchers to help better understand our oceans and the large charismatic animals that live in them. Among their current projects is the Florida Manta Project.  

We spoke to Jessica Pate, founder, and lead scientist of the Florida Manta Project, about the biology and ecology of Florida’s manta rays, as well as the dangers that fishing and boating pose for this fragile habitat.

The Florida Manta Project

Started in 2016, the Florida Manta Project is the first dedicated study of Florida’s manta rays. It aims to fill knowledge gaps, identify critical habitats, and promote conservation.

Research has found that South Florida is a rare manta ray nursery habitat. “The animals are utilizing this habitat over consecutive years,” explains Jessica. “These areas are usually characterized by accessible food and/or a lack of predators, which allows them to safely grow to maturity.”

Although we don’t yet have an in-depth understanding of why manta rays choose South Florida, scientists believe it may be the dense concentration of plankton that provides manta rays with a large food source. Above all, the discovery of this nursery will bolster conservation efforts around these critical habitats.

Using a wide array of research techniques, such as aerial surveys, drones, satellites, and acoustic telemetry, the Florida Manta Project has been able to identify over 130 individual rays. They’ve also successfully tagged more than 20 of them, allowing the project to track their movements.

“Sadly, we found that 25 percent of the juvenile manta rays were foul-hooked or entangled in fishing line,” says Jessica, “and we observed many mantas with injuries from boat propellers.”

This, she explains, is all the more reason to report manta ray sightings and help expand their database.

Manta Matcher

The Manta Matcher is the first global online database for manta rays. It operates with an automated algorithm that matches sightings to records of their unique spot patterns – sort of like a fingerprint database.

As Jessica explains: “It stands to revolutionize manta ray research by both centralizing data and tapping into a much broader base of contributors, namely the scuba diving community around the world.”

This data will allow scientists to cross-reference different study sites and examine the lifespans of manta rays. It will also help researchers learn whether populations are shared between neighboring countries. Any citizen scientist can report a manta ray sighting on the website/

“It’s especially important in Florida, where we are just beginning to learn about the distribution, seasonality, and threats to this population of manta rays,” says Jessica.

Manta Ray Education

The Florida Manta Project has also developed manta ray-inspired lesson plans for elementary and middle schools, with many virtual and in-person classroom visits to help educate local students. “We’ve reached thousands of people with our education and outreach programs,” Jessica explains, proudly. “Most recently, we created the first-ever accurate digital 3D manta ray model.”

The project has made incredible discoveries about Florida manta rays over the past six years. They’ve discovered nursery habitats, a large seasonal aggregation of adults, and identified threats, but there’s still a lot to uncover and much work left to perfect the database.

How to Help

The Marine Megafauna Foundation’s mission is to save endangered species so we can live in a world where marine life and humans can thrive together. But, research and data alone are not enough.

There are many ways to help support the MMF and its Florida Manta Project. Anyone can become a citizen scientist and report manta ray sightings to the database, and passionate divers can join MMF scientists on research trips around the world. These trips help scientists and can be an incredible opportunity to see wildlife and conservation firsthand. 

Also, you can adopt a manta ray! Your manta adoption supports the work of MMF’s world-renown manta ray experts. If you’d like to learn more, donate and support these initiatives through action, visit marinemegafauna.org to get started.

We hope that this article from 26NorthYachts will be informative and motivational for you.