Manta rays are slow-reproducing, highly intelligent rays killed for their gill plates used in traditional medicine. Protection efforts and demand reduction are critical welfare interventions.
Manta rays are killed for gill plates that have no demonstrated medicinal value, making their suffering entirely gratuitous. Entanglement in nets and longlines causes injury, exhaustion, and drowning in animals whose very size makes escape difficult. Targeted killing removes individuals from a population that reproduces so slowly that even low mortality rates can drive population decline. The cognitive capacity of manta rays — suggested by their large brains, social behavior, and apparent self-recognition — raises the moral stakes of their exploitation beyond what would apply to less sentient animals. The high ecotourism value of living mantas creates a strong economic argument alongside the ethical one for protecting these remarkable animals from exploitation.