First International Symposium on Mantas and Mobulids to be held in 2008 at the American Elasmobranch Society (AES) meeting in Montréal, Canada.
John O Sullivan at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and I are exploring the possibility of putting on a symposium on mantas and mobulids in 2008 at the American Elasmobranch Society (AES) meeting. The 2008 meeting is in Montréal, Canada and is run in conjunction with the American Society of Ichthyology and Herpetology meeting each year.

There are several motivations for trying to pull all this together. The first is conservation related. Mantas and mobulids are either targeted or incidentally taken in fisheries around the globe and in some areas there is evidence of declining populations. We need better information to determine the extent and impact of these fisheries, what conservation methods are likely to be most effective and what additional research is required.

The second deals with the dearth of published information on any of the species. There has been a lot of impressive work done by divers, amateur enthusiasts, and aquarists. Unfortunately very little of this information has made it into the published literature. Without this it is very difficult for scientists at the IUNC (or others) to use this information. The first goal is to get everyone together to share their ideas. The second, for those interested, would be to produce one comprehensive paper with every contributor as an author to disseminate the incredibly important data that has been collected. This would of course not be a requirement for those presenting, just an opportunity for those who would like to participate.

The final motivation is simply that it would be great to get together with everyone and talk about mantas and mobulids. This type of interaction will undoubtedly fuel new collaborations and research projects. We are working closely with Robert Aston of the Manta Network which should insure that the announcement reaches a broad audience.

To these ends we hope that scientists, divers, aquarists, and resource managers will be able to attend this symposium. We are going to work hard to obtain sponsorship for as many people as possible and will award some travel grants for those giving talks or posters. Exactly what funding will be available is not yet clear.

We have submitted a pre-proposal to the AES committee but need a tentative list of attendees to sell our case. If you could let us know ASAP if you are likely to attend that would be most appreciated. Please also let us know if you have and questions.

Hope to see you all in Canada in 2008.

All our Best,

Heidi Dewar (heidi.dewar@noaa.gov)
John O Sullivan (josullivan@mbayaq.org)