riding on mantas and other animals

[diveaussie]

Irresponsible. The sooner more of these operators understand the long term picture the better off the marine environment will be. Try riding or touching marine life on the Great Barrier Reef and you will be in for a nice big fine.... If only we could police it all!

 

[Scubaroo]

Actually it was an advertising campaign in Asian Diver magazine I think - some conservation group running full pages ads about not touching whale sharks.

Unfortunately I just gave away a massive pile of dive mags to a new diver at work so I can't reference their exact wording.

 

[Stivo]

okay, i'll brace myself for the flaming...

I have swam with mantas before on three occasions. I wouldn't use the term "ride" as both my buddy and I were very conscientious when we had our encounters with these beautiful creatures. I have found mantas to be very curious but if they are harassed or being abused they are certainly powerful enough get away from divers if they want to.

On all occasions, I always let the animal approach me. My first time I saw a manta I got excited and tried to swim near it to get a better look. Obviously, it wasn't interested as with a gentle flap of its wings, I found myself almost out of sight of the manta. So I thought how cool it was to have seen the manta and I turned back to join the group and go back to looking at the wall we were diving. Maybe 10 minutes later, near the end of our first dive I was checking out a cool nudibranch when I thought to check on my buddy. He was holding one fin in his hand (I think he was trying to adjust his strap), blowing a lot of bubbles and pointing excitedly off in the distance. Sure enough, our manta (or his cousin... they all look alike to me ) was back and it brought it's friends. I looked up and he swam right over where I was. I rolled over on my back to look at its belly and he slowed. I reached out and touched the belly gently. I think it was enjoying my bubbles as it came back a couple times. We had to surface and after our interval, we went back in.

Sure enough, there they were right off the bat. One came up to me, glided slowly as if to await my approach. I slowly approached making sure that the animal could see what I was doing and eventually petted it top side. It started to go a little faster so I swam along with it not holding on to it. Eventually, I wanted to get back to the group and my buddy. I wasn't quite sure where I was. I remembered the position of the sun about and made my way back to the group in a general direction. I found their bubbles and rejoined them. The manta came back after a couple minutes. Did the same thing. Slowed down right next to me and I approached in the same way. This time, gently petted it with one hand and lightly held on to the front of its wing (another time I held on to the remora (sp?) ) with the other but swimming along so as not to create a heavy burden. It was really cool... an amazing experience. I felt very connected to the animal and reinforced my already strong convictions about protecting the environment and the creatures in it.

I'm the person who is always pulling peoples' fins off of coral heads, fans, etc. I would even go so far as to call myself a "tree-hugger". I do believe though that people can interact with nature, so long as we are careful to understand how we affect nature when we do so and always interact with respect.

btw, I have been told that mantas can trap objects between the eyes on the head. Since they don't see straight ahead they sometimes run into anchor lines and other objects (legs, etc) and fold those appendages in and can hold on with quite a grip. I've heard stories, but having never witnessed it, it could be a sea-story...

 

[archman]

I would have to say that your interaction is perfectly acceptable, Stivo. "Harassment" is not a term that comes to mind with your particular story.

Manta behaviour around people can be weird. There really aren't any rigorous studies to explain what their sometimes-interest with divers is. They have teeny, primitive brains, so its likely something to do with cleaning behaviour or feeding.

 

[Fly N Dive]

stivo that sounds so amazing, i really wish that in my diving future i get to experience something even close to that. just being so close to one would be enough for me!

 

[mano kihikihi]

I do not have a judgement as to if the riding of animals in the marine wild is acceptable or not, there are to many circumstances with each encounter. I can only convey a few experiences that I have had. I professionally guide divers in Maui Hawaii. I have the opportunity to regularly see manta rays, eagle rays and the occasional whale shark. One particular instance that comes to mind was Nov. 27 2003 on the Backwall of Molokini. We had encountered a 40+ foot whale shark that was constantly surfacing at the stern of the vessel and placing its chin on the swim step. Multiple swimmers entered the water and followed the animal from the surface. The shark continually surfaced directly in the center of the 10 or so swimmers and circled amongst them for a few moments until dropping below. This continued for nearly three hours with the group moving no more than 100 yards from the original location. The water was crystal and there was no feeding behavior exhibited by the shark explaining its returning over and over to the surface admist the swimmers. After a time the shark swam off. Two days later a second and different shark was located in a similiar area, yet the moment any one entered the water the shark dropped deep into the blue.

Mantas seem to exhibit just as many opposing behaviours also, many that I have come across relish in circling in the bubbles of divers, riding the bubbles on their bellies to the surface only to return to the depth of the divers to ride yet another set of bubbles. Other mantas, we can tell the difference between a few individuals, will flee the area as soon as they see a diver comes around the corner.

This may be a wishful personification of the marine world, attempting to place human emotions and enjoyments on wild animals, but it does make for a confusing situation. I believe that the best policy in a situation that one does not fully know the answer to is the choice that is most likely not to cause harm if it turns out to be the wrong choice, because mistakes do happen and we dont really know what the animal is thinking.

 

[archman]

We had encountered a 40+ foot whale shark that was constantly surfacing at the stern of the vessel and placing its chin on the swim step.

I've had the same experience, with a 10m animal in the central Gulf of Mexico. The thing cruised over to the back of our research ship, and bumped its head around the hull for about ten minutes. It wasn't feeding... beats me what it was doing. Perhaps it was smelling something, or homing in on sound. We ruled out electroreceptivity as the range on that is >1m. Whale sharks are as pea-brained as mantas; very little personality and a whole lot of instinctual behavior.

 

[bigredbill]

I have to say that it must be some buncha ninnies who think that a Manta would tolerate being ridden if it bothered the animal.

I have been in a group in Costa Rica that did ride a Manta - one with a remora on each side so that the rider could grip onto the remoras and get pulled along like an ocean god!! One person would ride for a circle around the group, and then let go, and the Manta would circle back to us on his own, pass thru the group, slowing down and obviously...OBVIOUSLY .. allowing another person on top for another trip around the group. This happened 4 times. The mantas were breaching all around us and it was breeding season so perhaps this particular Manta was not of the right mind. But if escape or irritation had been at all on its mind there would have been nothing to stop it. Hey guys, they are really BIG and FAST...powerful enought to breach!!!

The philosophy that says interacting with another creature on the planet in an interesting way is somehow terrible and harmful by and of itself is to have a head full of lice. It was about as harmful as my scuba bubbles temporarily increasing the aeration of the ocean, and the experience certainly made all of us incredibly strong advocates for the Manta. Please take a breath and enjoy life. We are so lucky to be a part of this world - don't be afraid to be a part of it by some wallflower philosophy.

 

[archman]

I have to say that it must be some buncha ninnies who think that a Manta would tolerate being ridden if it bothered the animal.

its doable, trust me.

Aw man, what'd you have to go and grab remoras like that? That's so... rude. I'm sure the fish didn't appreciate it.

The philosophy that says interacting with another creature on the planet in an interesting way is somehow terrible and harmful by and of itself is to have a head full of lice.

You are forgetting cumulative effects. That's a very big omission. And by "interesting way" I assume you are referring to grabbing onto the animal and getting rides from it. It would be more appropriate to refer to that as "recreational sport".

It was about as harmful as my scuba bubbles temporarily increasing the aeration of the ocean, and the experience certainly made all of us incredibly strong advocates for the Manta. Please take a breath and enjoy life. We are so lucky to be a part of this world - don't be afraid to be a part of it by some wallflower philosophy.

That "wallflower philosophy" is one of the few activities slowing down the degradation of marine habitats worldwide. It's why you don't pick plants in state parks, feed bears and sharks, touch coral, blah blah.

If you would like to know precisely where the harm is relating to mantas, I'll tell you in two concise sentences. It leads directly to over-exploitation of them as a recreational resource. Without proper oversight and management, the incidents of actual harassment and injury to the animals escalate.

Contemporary natural resource policy regarding wildlife is to not interact with it. The lack of any discernible effect on the organism in no way proves its absence. When interaction is permitted, it should only be done by properly educated individuals, and in limited amounts. Otherwise you will lose sustainability of that resource, and risk potential damage to adjacent resources as well.

 

[DORSETBOY]

personally I dont like the idea of divers grabbing hold of a whale shark or manta underwater as there's a likelehood that in many instances it will cause the animal severe stress. I know a dm on Koh Tao (who I wont name) who warned a diver repeatedly against tugging on a turtle underwater, when the diver carried on doing this the dm ripped out his reg from his mouth, that seemed to do the trick!