🌊 World Manta Day 🌊 Manta rays aren’t just mesmerising to watch, they’re essential to the health of our oceans. As filter feeders, they consume huge amounts of zooplankton, helping keep marine ecosystems in balance. Their feeding habits support healthy food chains and sustainable seas. We’re lucky to see these gentle giants gliding through the waters off the Kimberley. But they’re under threat, from climate change, overfishing, bycatch, and habitat loss. Let’s protect what makes our coast so s

12K views · 272 reactions | Wild manta rays are threatened by commercial fishing and habitat degradation -- but this conservation project wants people to be inspired to protect them by swimming alongside them https://cnn.it/2Mogl3f #CallToEarth | CNN International | Facebook

In July, a giant manta ray, an endangered species, was legally captured off Panama City Beach, Florida, and shipped off for an aquarium in Abu Dhabi. The catch was permitted under a “marine special activity license” issued by Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), a rarely used loophole that allows contractors to take federally protected species for “educational” or “scientific” purposes. In reality, this permit was stretched to justify supplying a foreign theme park, an act