Manta and mobula rays are killed for their gill plates for traditional medicine markets, causing population declines and individual welfare harm through capture methods that cause significant suffering.
Manta rays are among the most cognitively sophisticated of all fish, with evidence for self-recognition that suggests a level of awareness making their welfare particularly ethically significant. Capture methods used in gill plate harvesting cause prolonged distress and death — harpoons and entanglement in nets are far from instantaneous. The drive for gill plates with unproven medicinal value against the welfare cost of killing self-aware animals makes manta ray conservation one of the most ethically compelling wildlife welfare cases.