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How to Ensure Your Manta Encounters are Sustainable
It’s no secret that the ocean surrounding the Maldives is home to some amazing marine life and here at Innahura Maldives Resort have incredible reefs abundant with fascinating creatures just a short boat ride away. In manta season we are fortunate to be able to see the graceful reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi), classed as ‘vulnerable’ by The International Union for Conservation of Nature. Conservation is very important to us at Innahura and we strive to ensure our encounters are sustainable, causing the mantas no harm by our activities and presence in the water.
There are a few easy steps you can take to make your manta encounters sustainable, therefore helping to ensure their continued presence in our oceans. We work closely with Manta Trust, founded in order to turn the tide for these enigmatic rays, by co-ordinating global research and conservation efforts around manta rays, their relatives, and their habitats. Manta Trust have developed research-based guidelines for encounters with mantas, please follow them during your snorkelling and diving activities at Innahura and anywhere else you are lucky enough to see them. Thank you for your help in ensuring the mantas will be around for many more years to come.
Guidance for Snorkellers & Divers
– Enter the water quietly and calmly, no closer than 10 meters to the manta ray.
– Keep your fins below the water’s surface when swimming. Splashing and noise can scare mantas away, so you want to approach the manta as quietly as possible.
– Do NOT approach closer than 3 meters, remain still and let the manta come to you.
– You should approach the manta from their side, giving them a clear path ahead.
– As the manta swims past you, do NOT chase after them! You will never catch up to a manta anyway, and will likely scare them away in the process.
– Do NOT touch a manta ray, you will ruin the encounter.
For Divers Only:
– Chances are if you are diving with a manta, you will be encountering them on a cleaning station. These are important sites for manta rays so remain at the side of the cleaning station and Do NOT swim onto the main cleaning area.
– Keep low and hover close to the seabed, but be careful not to damage the reef beneath you.
– When a manta swims towards you, do NOT block their path as they swim overhead, stay low and stay where you are.
To learn more about the mantas and go in search of them, book a Manta Search snorkelling excursion