NEWS
When biologist Dr Kathy Townsend sent out a press release to journalists in 2008 about one of her two major research projects, Project Manta, she hoped to get some media attention. hat she didn’t expect was to be invited to the Maldives to swim with her giant research subject, the Manta ray. But the press release caught the attention of film producer Gisela Kauffman, who contacted Kathy with a proposal for a documentary. “I originally thought she and her team would just accompany our team out into the field to film,” Kathy told SIN. “Needless to say I was very pleased when she asked me if I would be ‘willing’ to also visit some other manta hotspots around the world.” The resulting documentary, Project Manta, screened recently on ABC1. Filmed in Mexico, Micronesia, the Maldives, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and our very own Moreton Bay, the documentary, showed Mantas – which have the largest brain to body size of any living fish – engaged in synchronised swimming for the group hunting of plankton as well as balletic mating rituals.
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AUTUMN 2012
It also showed Kathy and colleagues Lydie Couturier, Fabrice Jaine and Anthony Richardson, tagging and photographing Mantas, then working through hundreds of photographs to identify individuals. Unique markings on the underbelly of each Manta act as a fingerprint, helping the scientists to count population numbers and track their oceanic progress from one exotic location to another. “Manta rays are the largest bodied planktivorous species feeding in the waters in the Great Barrier Reef,” Kathy told SIN, “making them highly susceptible to impacts caused by climate change. They show an amazing intelligence yet there is currently very little information known about them. “This is of some concern as they have just recently been listed as vulnerable to extinction by the ICUN red list for endangered species, and they are in danger from overfishing in the waters just north of Australia.”
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Shining a ray on the Manta Dr Kathy Townsend swimming with Manta rays in the Maldives.
Project Manta is one of two large research projects being led by Kathy from the Moreton Bay Research Station (MBRS) in Dunwich. The other is into the impact of marine debris on sea turtles. Established in 2007, and set to continue for several more years, Project Manta has corporate support from partners EarthWatch, Manta Lodge and Scuba Centre, Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort, Sibelco, Project Aware, Sea World Foundation, Kauffman Productions, SEQ Catchments, Redland City Council, David Hannan Productions and Australian Marine Conservation Society, and government support through the Australian Research Council. Anyone wanting to follow Project Manta can “like” its Facebook page. Scuba divers can see groups of Manta rays in waters just off Straddie at the Bommie dive site, a cleaning station for rays and other large marine animals. STRADDIE ISLAND NEWS 13