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Project Elasmo
21 February 2008
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| Manta Ray © Guy Stevens |
Individual interests from three countries are joining forces to try to secure the wellbeing of a little known yet important marine reserve on the coast of Ecuador.
Dr J Lehmann of the Foundation for Research of Whales (Washington), is joining with Ecuador’s only PADI instructor development and dive centre Exploramar Diving, and British marine photographer and videographer, Mark Harding on a two to three year observation and tagging program.
For its first year, Project Elasmo has three areas of focus, which dovetail. One focus is to identify and tag manta rays (Elasmobranchs) within the habitat of Machalilla National Park in Ecuador with approximately 14,000 hec-acres within coastal waters.
Through informal observations there appear to be a group of mantas which have been partially identified who return each year to the same location. The aim is to photo ID these individuals and tag, in addition to broadening our search for more groups. It is thought that there are several others.
The aim is to answer such questions as why do they return here? Is this a breeding ground? Do they intermingle and what are their immediate range as well as depth in these waters? Does depth/temperature or structure of sea floor in relation to the Isla de la plata offer clues as to manta behavior?
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| Fished sharks in Ecuador© Mark Harding |
Our second focus deals with the sea around these waters and manta yearly migration. By creating a bathymetric map of the area and expanding on a partial map to initially work from, it is possible to GPS manta coordinates and plot behavior and range while in these waters. Project Elasmo hopes to identify seamounts and large shelves in this area so future dives and research can be completed.
The third important aspect is to address the fact that there are virtually no marine educational programs in place to try to alleviate pressure from current and future generations of Ecuadorians to over fish the waters. We want to begin the process of educating the younger generation in this area, educating them on the value of their oceanic eco-system.
Data will be gathered over the course of 2-3 years and it is hopeful that the research will broaden into the acoustic tagging of sharks within this same habitat. Funding is currently being sought for this phase of the project.
Dr. Jim Lehmann
President—Foundation for Center for Research for Whales
1644 Plaza Way PM # 216
Walla Walla, Washington 99362 509 529-4006
edecuador@yahoo.com
http://www.researchwhales.com
Michel G. Mancheno
Exploramar Diving
Alemania N32-71 y Av Ma.de Jesus
PO Box 17-17-1295
Quito—Ecuador
michel@exploradiving.com
Mark Harding
Mark Harding
4 St John's Place
Newport
Isle of Wight
PO30 1LH
writepic@gmail.com
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