riding on mantas and other animals

[fungi3001]

im off to costa rica in a couple of weeks and have been looking at websites of dive ops. ive noticed some have images of people riding on mantas (as well as encoureaging this) and whale sharks. why do people feel the need to do this? i can see that its probably quite fun but surely much better to leave them alone and just watch. i guess its a 'tourist' thing. hey! come and ride the mantas, but can't people just let them be.

if the manta wants to come play then fine but one pic had two divers riding on one ray. this cant be good for them.

guy

 

[ShakaZulu]

People ride horses right, could this be a sea horse. What about the killer whales at sea world???

 

[archman]

Unfortunately, there are still dive pro's, ship captains, and resort staff that promote these sorts of things as "perfectly acceptable", if not "liked" by the animal. There is no scientific validity to any of it... in fact it often proves the reverse.

I have a Flower Gardens Banks video I show my undergraduate students every year, that has some clown from a dive magazine talking about how much manta rays enjoy human interaction. I wish I could edit that part out.

 

[adshepard]

The world is made up of all types of people. This is sometimes a bit unfortunate as some types are just plain yahoos. They beleive nature is like Disneyland, there for them to play with. You have manta riders, pufferfish blowers and all kinds of other people abusing nature with their shenanigans.

Best that can be done is to educate them and the dive operators that allow or promote such behavior. Speak up if it occurs on a dive or trip you are on. E-mail or contact in some other way the dive operators that promote the behavior.

I have not witnessed much if any abuse of nature of this type. Most divers are considerate of nature with regard to this abuse. Now kicking reefs and the like I have seen and that is just as bad.

DSDO

Alan

 

[scottfiji]

Whenever you see someone riding a manta or a whale shark, there are probably many more people nearby dynamiting reefs, slaughtering hundreds of sharks and rays, and netting fish.

We all choose our battles. Some people focus on whale riders, others on fish feeders, others on shark-fin cutters. I recognize all have good intentions.

However, I personally think its a little hypocritical to focus on whale-riders when there is so much killing of marine life going on, regardless of whether the animal killed is eaten or not. I suggest we put our energy towards creating marine parks, limiting over-fishing of depleted species, stopping dynamiting & cyaniding, etc.

Scott

 

[Scubaroo]

Don't whale sharks have a mucus layer on their skin that gets rubbed off by divers touching them that leaves them prone to infection? Thought I read that somewhere once.

 

[Jester]

Hmmmm, I wonder. What would happen if the next time one of these divers went down, some crazed Manta decided to ride them instead? Kind of a "Man bites dog" scenario!

Maybe it would teach them a lesson, but could you just imagine the look in their eyes when the Manta jumps on their back? LOL!

 

[archman]

Don't whale sharks have a mucus layer on their skin that gets rubbed off by divers touching them that leaves them prone to infection? Thought I read that somewhere once.

Never heard that one, but Rhincodon is a shark and as far as I know all sharks lack a protective mucus layer. The placoid scales are the first thing a diver should contact... the sandpapery skin stuff.

However, most BONY FISHES do in fact have the slimy mucus coat. And that most definitely IS a significant component to their immune system. So don't go "rubbing fish"... you'll give them a cold.

Same rule applies for corals, but that's more common knowledge.

 

[Fly N Dive]

So don't go "rubbing fish"... you'll give them a cold.

i worry about what kind of people go around rubbing fish.

 

[fungi3001]

Whenever you see someone riding a manta or a whale shark, there are probably many more people nearby dynamiting reefs, slaughtering hundreds of sharks and rays, and netting fish.

We all choose our battles. Some people focus on whale riders, others on fish feeders, others on shark-fin cutters. I recognize all have good intentions.

However, I personally think its a little hypocritical to focus on whale-riders when there is so much killing of marine life going on, regardless of whether the animal killed is eaten or not. I suggest we put our energy towards creating marine parks, limiting over-fishing of depleted species, stopping dynamiting & cyaniding, etc.

Scott

firstly hypocritical is the wrong word - i dont go around dynamiting reefs. i do however agree that these are all more serious problems, i just happened to come across this and it annoyed me. clearly stopping the destruction of reefs and protection of fish stocks is far more important than stopping some idiot riding mantas but all these are still problems that need to be stopped and it is generally the 'tourist' who can be reprimanded for riding wildlife where the people who are using dynamite and cyanide are doing so to support their livelyhoods.


also shakazulu:
horses are domesticated and trained animals used to human interaction mantas are wild. the animals at sea world , although they would be better out in the wild, have also been trained and as far as i am aware are taken care of properly.

Guy