The issue seems to be that there are a lot of other species with even fewer numbers that are getting attention from conservationists at the moment and it leaves little room for Mantas.
A page from Mantaray-world.com says the following:
"The Manta Ray seems to be very low on the list of conservation efforts by local governments. There are simply too many other creatures out there that have verified low numbers that are getting attention right now."
I also found a really good website for the Foundation for the Protection of Marine Megafauna called marinemegafauna.org
This foundation dedicates itself to the protection of 'Megafauna' which are large species of sharks, rays, turtles and marine mammals.
They do a lot of really good work to make sure populations of megafauna are sustained and to educate people about why that is so important. They also work with specific communities to stop the illegal poaching of the animals.
Plus they actually have a really nicely designed website.
Amazingly from looking at the website I discovered that these were the people who made the documentary that I watched which made Manta rays one of my favourite animals and made me choose this topic to research.
The documentary focussed around Dr. Andrea Marshall and her amazing interactions with Manta rays and showed the foundation's efforts in conservation. It also progressed into detail about Dr. Marshall's discovery of a seperate species of Manta which is bigger and migrates unlike the previously known Manta.
This shows that there is a lot of effort going into the conservation of Manta rays, but also shows that again sharks and other marine animals are being referenced which further supports the idea that my brief should focus on more than just Manta rays.
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