Launched in 1978 as a joint venture between the French Space Agency, NASA, and the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA), this system was originally intended for meteorological and oceanographic studies only. Slate put together a video highlighting the study:įor over 30 years, the migratory patterns of marine animals, including sharks, turtles, and now giant manta rays, have been made possible by the Argos satellite system. Unfortunately, though current population sizes are unknown, it is believed that giant manta ray numbers are dwindling rapidly. A study by The Manta Ray Of Hope Project estimated that a single manta ray brings in an income of $1 million to local ecotourism over its lifetime. The global tourism value of manta rays is estimated at $50 million a year, while the market value for the ray’s gill rakers is $11 million, so the study concluded that there is much greater financial value to the tourism industry in keeping the manta rays alive. Satellite tracks of three of the six manta rays show their movement over a 1-2 month window.īecause manta rays are currently listed as ‘vulnerable’ to extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, knowing the degree to which they intersect with human activities is essential to understanding their long term survival. This is especially important as the rays are often at risk of being hit by shipping boats, chopped up by fisherman for use as shark bait, and hunted for their cartilaginous gill rakers that are used in Eastern medicine practices.įurthermore, manta rays are exposed to humans increasingly in the megafauna tourism industry that offers scuba divers a chance to swim with the rays. The researchers discovered that the manta rays predominantly remained in warmer water (26-30☌) of less than 50 meters deep, but spent nearly 90 percent of their time outside of Marine Protected Areas where human contact is minimized.
#MARINE MAMMAL SATELLITE TAG GPS TRACKS FOR FREE#
The research, published in PLoS ONE (read the full article for free here), described how six manta rays were tagged with trackers as they traversed nearly 700 miles around the Yucatan peninsula and were monitored for up to 64 days before the trackers fell off. Recently, for the first time, satellite tracking has provided insight into the last of the marine megavertebrate species to be monitored by satellite: the giant manta ray.Īlthough this latest study is a success story for a technology that has matured over two decades, it also highlights just how far behind satellite tracking of animals is compared to humans and how desperately that needs to be changed.
One of the increasingly employed technologies is GPS tracking, which many of the world’s 6.6 billion mobile subscribers (over 90 percent of the world’s population) have come to rely on. For the last few decades, scientists too have utilized satellite tracking to monitor wildlife to better understand their migratory patterns and the impact humans have on their environments. Since the launch of Sputnik I in 1957, satellite technology has increasingly connected people together, whether in the same town or on opposite sides of the planet, effectively making the world flat. Satellite technology is a modern-day “Wonder of the World.” Consider that currently over 1,000 active satellites orbit the Earth, communicating with ground-based transmitters and receivers for a host of applications, such as delivering scientific measurements, weather information, and television programming, to name a few. Leatherbacks in the Pacific stuck to one speed in the middle, and had a harder time finding food.The Argos system has allowed researchers to track wildlife for years, but the time has come for a new system. Scientists found that turtles in the Atlantic swam at two different speeds – one very fast (up to 28 miles per hour!) when they wanted to get somewhere and a slower speed when searching for their next meal.
They found that the giant fish spent most of their time within 200 miles of shore, but not necessarily in safe spots (only about 12 percent of their time was spent in marine protected areas).Īnother recent study looked at the movements of the critically endangered leatherback sea turtles in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Scientists recently attached satellite trackers to six giant manta rays ( Manta birostris).
But what do we really know about these giant creatures, which can grow up to 25 ft in width? Not much, but that is changing. You’ve probably seen photos of the mysterious and almost eerie silhouette of a manta ray. How do we know where ocean animals swim day and night? Scientists are getting snapshots into the daily lives of whales, sharks, and even fish by tagging the animals to track their movements.