Watch: Camera Put on Giant Manta Ray for First Time Ever | National Geographic

although manta rays are a really iconic
species that have a really high value in
tourism they’re also targeted all around
the world in fisheries but they’re also
incredibly susceptible to bycatch so
Crittercam
is gonna play a huge role being able to
pinpoint exactly what they’re doing
what habitats they’re using when they’re
doing it and what they’re feeding on to
get to the animals all you have to do is
throw on some scuba gear hop in the
water head down to these rocky outcrops
and there are the mantas hanging out
they’ll swim over you they’ll swim
underneath you and it’s really just a
matter of allowing them to get
comfortable with you to the point where
you can swim above and behind them and
deploy or Crittercam
right on top of their head Crittercam
gives us the ability to ride along with
the animals to see and to record from
the animals perspective how they engage
their world and it gives us information
gives us insight into their natural
history and behavioral ecology that
we’ve never had the opportunity to to
study in a Corps before so Crittercam
is definitely a really critical aspect
in eliminating and reducing bycatch if
all goes to plan and we can identify a
lot of these behaviors