Indonesia Leads the World in Creating Largest Open Sea Manta Ray Sanctuary

Following in the footsteps of the Pacific island nation of Palau, who recently became a “100 percent marine sanctuary,” Indonesia has just declared its waters a sanctuary for manta rays, creating the world’s largest open sea manta ray sanctuary in the world by banning the fishing and export rays.

Well done, Indonesia!

According to AFP via Yahoo News, Indonesia’s brand new legislation bans the fishing and export of manta rays and gives these gentle giants full protection within Indonesia’s 2.2 million square miles of ocean, an area that was considered the world’s “largest ray and shark fishery.”

This decision has come just a few weeks after Indonesia’s Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Minister declared giant manta rays and reef manta rays as protected species under Indonesian law on Jan. 28, 2014, as reported by the Wildlife Conservation Society.

“This new law represents a major advancement in efforts to conserve manta rays, which in 2013 were added to the list of species regulated under of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). As of September 2014, all 178 CITES member countries will need to control trade and implement other CITES trade rules for these and several heavily traded shark species so as to ensure that international trade is not a threat to their survival,” reports Wildlife Conservation Society.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, both species of manta rays are considered vulnerable, with fishing and the demand for traditional Asian medicine products as their main threats.

Indonesia’s decision to protect manta rays and its subsequent creation of the world’s largest manta ray sanctuary was influenced by a study published last year in the scientific journal PloS One, which determined that a single manta ray can bring in up to one million dollars in tourism revenue during its lifetime.

Pretty amazing, right?

Currently, Indonesia has the second largest manta ray tourism industry in the world, with the Maldives coming in just ahead in first place.

“Given the huge area of reefs and islands in our country, if managed properly, Indonesia could become the top manta tourism destination on the planet,” said Agus Dermawan, a senior official from the ministry of marine affairs and fisheries.

While eco-tourism may not be as “green”or sustainable in every situation as some sources claim (when done right it certainly is, however), the creation of this sanctuary and the protection of these manta rays is definitely something to celebrate as it’s a huge step in the right direction for animal protection.

As AFP states, “Indonesia joins countries including Ecuador, the Philippines, New Zealand and Mexico in granting full protection to their manta rays.”

Woohoo! Now let’s get whales, dolphins and sharks to make the protected list, too!

Image source: istolethetv / Flickr