The importance of key aggregation sites for juvenile Manta Rays (Mobula alfredi and Mobula birostris), and the impacts of anthropogenic threats

蝠鲼（alfredi和birostris）是生长缓慢的软骨鱼，它们的晚熟和低繁殖力使它们极易受到过度捕捞的影响。许多人为威胁影响着全球的蝠鲼，包括易受副渔获物和有针对性的渔业的影响，这在一定程度上是由亚洲对游动鳃板的药用需求所驱动的。在马尔代夫群岛，蝠鲼受到国家保护，不受渔业捕捞，数量非常健康。然而，在马尔代夫北部的斯里兰卡，我们发现了世界上最大的生物渔场，在那里，人们发现这些物种在这些水域中没有更多的成年物种，只有幼鱼被捕获，如果不改变这种情况，将导致该地区的局部灭绝。该项目旨在扩大对蝠鲼幼年生活阶段的研究，通过确定幼年个体使用的关键栖息地，如幼崽和育儿区，这在世界范围内仍相对缺乏研究。该项目的长期目标是规划和设计海洋保护区的政策和其他保护措施，以保护这些物种免遭进一步减少。

Manta rays (Mobula alfredi and Mobula birostris) are slow-growing cartilaginous fishes, and their late maturity and low fecundity leave them highly vulnerable to overexploitation. A number of anthropogenic threats impact manta rays globally, including susceptibility to by-catch and targeted fisheries, which are partly driven by the Asian medicinal demand for mobulid gill plates. In the Maldives Archipelago manta rays are nationally protected from fisheries and are abundantly healthy in numbers. In Sri Lanka however, just north of the Maldives, we find the world's largest mobulid fishery, where it has been found that no more adults of these species exist in these waters with only juveniles being caught, which if un-changed will lead to local extinction within the area. This project aims to expand research on the juvenile life stage of manta rays, by identifying critical habitats used by young of year individuals such as pupping and nursery areas, which remain relatively understudied around the world. This project has the long-term goal of planning and designing policies for marine protected areas and other conservation initiatives to protect these species from further reduction.