What is Project Manta trying to achieve?

Based at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Project Manta is bringing together scientists, industry partners and the general public to establish important baseline data of manta rays and their relatives.

When Project Manta first began, manta rays were not protected in Australian waters because there was so little known about them that they were considered ‘Data Deficient’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Now, due to the work of Project Manta and that of our international colleagues, there is a better understanding of population sizes and trends to inform their listings as ‘Vulnerable’ for reef manta rays and ‘Endangered’ for oceanic manta rays. Such listings have resulted in manta rays being included in the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), affording them some protection in Australian waters.

But there's still much more work to be done. The research being conducted as part of Project Manta aims to contribute to the long-term conservation of manta rays and their relatives.

Our research approaches aim to:

• investigate connectivity and movement between populations of manta rays within Australia and neighbouring regions,
• generate accurate estimates of population size,
• understand key biological and environmental drivers of population dynamics, and
• use this information to provide management recommendations for the conservation of manta ray populations.

In Australian waters, reef manta rays are found from Shark Bay in Western Australia, around northern Australia, to central NSW in eastern Australia. Oceanic manta rays on the other hand, have a much patchier distribution. This is an example of something we hope to learn much more about.