Manta rays are increasingly threatened by bycatch in fishing gear and direct harvest for gill plate trade, causing severe welfare harms to these long-lived, slow-reproducing animals.
Manta rays entangled in fishing gear experience prolonged distress and exhaustion before drowning or being hauled aboard. The stress of capture is severe for animals adapted to wide-ranging ocean travel. Direct harvest for gill plates involves killing animals whose cognitive complexity and social bonds make their deaths particularly ethically concerning. The slow reproductive rate means individual losses have disproportionate population consequences, compounding the welfare problem with conservation urgency.