This article was written by Kate Carroll

It’s dark, you are gearing up for a once in a lifetime dive. You descend to a sand patch surrounded by coral, the whole area lit up like a stage. The show is about to begin. Manta rays with a wingspan of 13ft begin arriving. They gracefully backflip and swim through the stage. Hundreds of Hawaiian flagtail fish join in an effort to feed on the plankton that is accumulating from the lights. Divers watch the show from below while snorkelers watch from above. An audience of over 200 people each night enjoys this show. The cost to put on such a show? Safety for mantas and participants has been an increasing expense to the show. Will profit undermine the safety and sustainability of the manta night dive?

A Spotted Eagle Ray

History of the Manta Dive

Ecotourism that centers around seeing and interacting with marine megafauna are often alternative incomes to reduce the dependency on unsustainable fishing. The main argument is that the animal will bring in more money to the economy through ecotourism than they will bring in at the market dead. Mantas are hunted around the world for their gill rakers. Much like the demand for shark fins, the gill rakers are used in traditional Chinese medicine. A Hawaii state law was passed in 2009 that banned the harvest or take of mantas within Hawaiian waters. This law ensured that the mantas would be protected within Hawaiian waters, a huge win for the manta population within Hawaii. However, the manta night dive was not formed out of a concern for over-harvesting of mantas within Hawaiian waters. The manta night dive started out of happenstance. The Sheraton Hotel in Kona, Hawaii used to shine lights into the water each night. This attracted manta rays that  feed on the accumulating plankton. Soon the dive boats started to attend the show too. It started small with just a few boats in 1991. Charters occurred once a week or so, but have grown quickly to over 20 boats each night at each of the two main dive sites. This puts over 400 people in the water each night for the show at the two sites located outside the Kona Sheraton Hotel and at Makako Bay, located near the Kona Airport. These locations are the only places where this unique event happens each night.

Manta Ray in Hawaii

Manta Safety at Risk

The population of about 280 named mantas in Kona, Hawaii is separate from other Hawaii manta populations. The isolated nature of this population and its low population numbers could lead to a population decline if the industry is not careful with their practices. “Manta ray conservation and safety is the ultimate goal for the manta night dive and snorkel,” or so the operators will say. The actions taken do not always match these intentions. Profit ends up being the ultimate driver for the continuation of the Manta night dive and snorkel in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Currently, a large problem for the safety of mantas during the night dive is anchoring boats and hull lighting. Throwing an anchor in the sand seems like the responsible thing to do. This prevents companies from having to “live boat” (propellers running with the engine in gear), a huge issue for mantas and human safety. While anchoring prevents propeller strikes, the number of boats at each dive site is creating a maze of lines in the water for mantas to dodge and weave around. Most times, the elegant swimmers can dance through the lines, but many guides have noticed that in recent years the number of scrapes, small injuries, and large injuries to mantas has increased. These injuries can also be caused by boats that use hull or ladder lighting. This attracts mantas to the boat itself where the risk of running into propellers and boat ladders are high.

Participant Safety at Risk

           Diving and snorkeling can be very safe activities. However, they both carry risks based on each participants health, medical history, and adherence to industry-wide safety procedures. A third-party group assessed the hazards to health and human safety that surround the manta night dive. The highest likelihood of severe injury or deaths during the manta night dive were associated with live vessel/propeller strike to a snorkeler or diver, anchor strike to a diver, in-water medical emergencies, drowning, and high-speed boat-to-boat collisions. Medium and low-level hazards included mild hypothermia, surfacing under a boat and contact with hazardous marine life. Risk increases significantly as the numbers of boats and people each night increases. The increase in popularity of the manta night dive and snorkel are putting more boats and people in the water each night. When push comes to shove, the guides and tour operators will handle whatever situation is presented to them. The risks are known and nothing is being done to improve upon them for the future.

Will the Pattern Change?

           The manta night dive and snorkel are currently self-managed through a set of community guidelines. They are designed to help ensure manta and human safety. However, these guidelines are not enough in this ever expanding industry. In 2014, a law was passed that required new regulations to be created to help ensure a more sustainable future for the manta night dive. New regulations have been drafted, and have gone through a public comment period. The regulations beef up safety guidelines for dive operators and also limit the traffic at each dive site with a permit system. It will eliminate live boating and hull and ladder lighting. It is slated to include the installation of more moorings to eliminate the need to anchor and the possibility of damaging the surrounding coral reef with anchoring practices. This seems to solve many, if not all, of the issues and problems that are plaguing the manta night dive and snorkel.

Many tour guides and operators doubt the new regulations will be enforced, even if they do become law. Enforcement is limited to the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR). DOBOR has about 4 enforcement officers currently assigned to the entire west side of the island. Without the added job of being on site during the manta night dive, they are already overworked and stretched thin. Another problem with the new regulations is that a “cry wolf attitude” has been formed around the new regulations. For at least 5 years, these regulations have been talked about but they have never been implemented or taken seriously. Most guides and tour operators doubt the new regulations will ever go into effect. That attitude has brought many to not practice or look at company-wide changes that will need to happen if these regulations go into effect.

Solutions for the Future

Some of the solutions suggested by both tour guides and the third-party safety report included screening customers for health concerns and for water competency, creating an industry-wide emergency action plan, having a safety boat on site each night in case of a severe medical emergency, reducing the amount of people using the dive site at a time, and eliminating live boating. The proposed regulations only tackle some of these solutions, including eliminating live boating and reducing the number of boats and people. This is why most guides and those close to the industry believe the proposed regulations would make a big difference in the safety and conservation of the manta ray population in Kona, but are still not enough. While hope that the regulations will actually be implemented is not very high, most guides agree that the regulations would be a huge step in the right direction for the industry and for setting an example for other ecotourism ventures to follow. The industry’s continued success will come down to management and the ability to put profit aside for the sake of participants safety and the conservation of the species we are there to see. Improving the safety of the manta night dive through the proposed regulations would help to place manta and human safety first, profit second. Let’s create a future where the pure beauty of conservation for manta rays can be realized.

For More information about the proposed manta viewing regulations follow the link below.

https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/dobor/files/2018/11/180917-Manta-Rule-Draft-for-Public-Distribution.pdf

For more information regarding the third-party safety, report follow the link below.

https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/dobor/files/2013/04/Manta-Ray-Viewing-Boating-Operations-and-Safety-Assessment_final.pdf

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