One of the ideas that came out of the meeting was a program in which fishermen could be reimbursed for the loss of their net and their catch if they cut a net to release a manta ray. And now it’s gone.”īut Forsberg uses the incident to learn more, visiting the fisherman at his home and asking him how the government and experts could help him avoid capturing manta rays. “So, you know how much energy that manta invested and how much time that cost for that manta to have that pup. “I just feel really, really sad right now,” Forsberg tells the camera, explaining that it takes two to seven years for a female manta ray to produce one pup. Not wanting to miss a research opportunity, Forsberg and her team dissect the dead ray and find a fully formed baby manta ray inside ready to be born. In a poignant moment of the film, a female manta ray washes up on the shore after it drowns in a fishing net. It’s illegal to catch the rays on purpose in Peru now, but one of the biggest threats remains accidental capture by fishermen. The film follows Forsberg as she tries to conserve the remaining giant manta rays through education and research. The rays are intelligent and can recognize themselves in a mirror. “First of all, they're completely harmless.”ĭivers are able to get reasonably close to them, she said, and manta rays are curious. “Manta rays are really magical,” Forsberg told Living Lab Radio.
#Giant manta ray aquarium free
There's a free screening of the film, Kerstin and the Giant Manta Rays, and question and answer session with Forsberg at the New England Aquarium's IMAX Theatre on Wednesday, September 26 at 6:30 PM.įorsberg is a New England Aquarium Marine Conservation Action Fund (MCAF) Fellow and heads up a group called Planeta Oceano (Planet Ocean) in Peru.
A new film follows the champion of the giant manta ray, a Peruvian marine scientist named Kerstin Forsberg. And perhaps not surprisingly, it needs protection. It sails through the water on big floppy wings, scooping up tiny sea life as it travels. There are whales, a robust fishing industry, and a strange, gentle creature the size of a car called the giant manta ray. Just off the coast of Peru, there's a huge amount of sea life.
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