eManta - Powered by people, like YOU!

People love manta rays.

Tourists spend millions of dollars a year just to see them. So alarms rang when they started to disappear from their aggregation sites. eManta began as a project to understand the international threats to the species. By collecting observations from ocean explorers documenting i) where people saw manta rays in the ocean, ii) where they saw them fished and landed, and iii) where they saw them sold in markets, and comparing this data with national catch data (FAO), a major discrepancy was found. Only two countries reported catching and landing manta rays, but they were being caught and sold in markets around the world. This discrepancy between catch reported to the FAO and actual catch identified International Trade as a threat, and helped them get on the endangered species list (Appendix II of CITES). Click HERE to read the full paper and learn more about the need for, and incredible impact of, eManta.

Our Goals

Continuation of eManta

This project is a continuation of the eManta project mentioned above and aims to track the success and failures of current policies by tracking the social, biological, and anthropogenic dimensions of manta and other mobulid rays around the world.

Education

Automated analytics provided by the eOceans platform allows all Team members to watch the patterns develop in real-time. Locals, stakeholders, rightsholders, and decision-makers no longer have to wait for scientific studies to be published to learn how manta and mobulid rays are doing in their piece of ocean.

Collaboration

Team members are encouraged to hop on the ‘COMMENTS’ channel and share their interpretation of the generated results. By creating a space for open collaboration eManta is working to increase ocean literacy surrounding ocean health, and more specifically manta and mobulid ray population health, while listening closely to locals, stakeholders, and rightsholders to ensure best practices are being used and local knowledge is incorporated.

changing how ocean science is done

The ocean is changing fast, and with that comes a plethora of known and unknown consequences to species, communities, and economies around the globe. This project is proving that ocean science no longer has to, nor can it afford to, take a siloed approach to questions and lag years to decades behind society and ocean change. The real-time analytics, automated pdf reports, disseminated results and open space for communication between locals, stakeholders, rightsholders and Team admins provided by the eOceans software enables researchers to stretch their resources (ie. grants, time, etc.) far past previous limits, allowing discoveries to be made faster, with less cost and more consideration towards the communities involved.

Interested in getting a Team started for your project?

Email Christine (christine@eoceans.co) to discuss your project needs and to find out how eOceans can work to stretch your resources so you can have more time and money back to focus towards your research. Click here to learn more (once enterprise is up)

How can you get involved?

Download the eOceans app and join the eManta Team to share your observations and work to conserve and restore these important species! The ocean is massive and we need to take an all-hands-on-deck approach to uncover patterns and threats. It cannot be overstated - YOUR OBSERVATIONS MATTER.

help manta rays today!

Download the FREE app to start contributing to eManta, today!

Contact us to get your own Team started on the eOceans platform (christine@eOceans.co).