Manta rays are among the ocean's most charismatic megafauna, but they face welfare threats from targeted fishing for gill plates used in traditional medicine, entanglement in fishing gear, and the growing pressure of ecotourism.
Manta rays targeted for gill plate trade face a uniquely distressing death. Their large size (up to 7m wingspan) means landing them requires prolonged struggle. Their gill rakers are removed, often while the animal is still alive, and the carcass discarded. Individual manta rays at popular dive sites have been documented with boat propeller scars, fishing line entanglement causing limb loss, and plastic ingestion that causes gastrointestinal obstruction. Tourism pressure at aggregation sites can disrupt feeding and breeding behavior when divers approach too closely. The welfare of individual manta rays intersects directly with their conservation - each animal contributes significantly to local ecotourism economies that create incentives for their protection.