TO NURTURE LOCAL CONSERVATION AND EDUCATION
MANTA CARIBBEAN PROJECT
The Manta Caribbean Project is a research, conservancy and educational program based in Mexico. Current legislation forbids the landing of manta and devil rays in this region, however there are not sufficient management measures in place to enforce this ban across such a large area. Project leader Karen Fuentes, works in conjunction with the Manta Trust, to conduct research on and describe the local manta ray species, promote awareness in the local communities through educational programs, encouraging responsible practices through workshops with fishers and local tourism operators, and to attain knowledge and data that can be used to develop sustainable models for the conservation of this species.
The Manta Caribbean Project believes the manta population seen in the Mexico Caribbean to be a third, putative (yet undescribed) species of manta ray that is sympatric to the oceanic manta ray in this region.