Two threatened marine species netted at Uppada

KAKINADA: Manta and mobula rays, two threatened marine species, are frequently netted and sold in and around the shores of Kakinada and Uppada. The gill plates of the manta and mobula rays are in great demand in the international market for medicinal use and also to make soup in restaurants in countries like China and others. Larger numbers of this threatened species is being caught nowadays at fish landing centres in the Mahakumbhabhishekam area and the shores of Uppada.

Manta rays are cartilaginous (fish with tough cartilage rather than bone) and live in warm tropical and sub-tropical waters. They are filter feeders and mainly feed on phytoplankton and zooplankton. An adult manta ray can measure up to 15-21 feet and weighs around 1.5 to 3 tonnes. Two types of manta rays are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUNC) - the Giant Oceanic manta ray (manta birostris) and the Reef manta ray (manta alfred).

Both are vulnerable and have been recently listed in appendix 1 and II under the Convention of Migratory Species Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). “These two species are frequently landed at Uppada and Kumbabhishekam fish landing centres in very large numbers. They are slaughtered and the gill plates are exported from Kakinada to Kerala, Mumbai and Chennai. The rest of the meat is salted and sold locally in small fish markets as dry fish,’’ Mannepuri Srikanth, vice-president of the Guardians of Earth Foundation (GEF) told this newspaper.

He said that manta rays are mostly captured in line nets which are used by fishermen to capture tuna fish in the deep sea. The increased demand for the gill plates had encouraged fishermen to hunt this threatened fish, he said. Conservation biologist and senior scientist of the Bombay Natural History Society, P Sathiya Selvam, said that a detailed study should be conducted of this threatened species. He said though the species is not included in the Wildlife Protection Act, scientists have suggested that governments of different countries should include them in the protected list to save the species.