Saving the manta rays of the Maldives (BBC)

The Maldives government is determined to protect the marine life around its shores - and along with it, the country's economy.
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The challenge for Stevens is that local hotels and the so-called "safari boats" that carry scuba divers around the Maldives have also discovered the secret of Hanifaru.

"The government has declared the bay a protected area," says Stevens, "but we need a patrol boat or a ranger to monitor just how many people can swim with the mantas at any one time.

"Sometimes the rays have to compete with 100 swimmers and divers crowded in here."

The government has declared manta rays off limits to fishermen, along with sharks. But elsewhere in the Indian Ocean, both mantas and sharks are being increasingly targeted because they are valued either as food or as ingredients in Chinese medicine.



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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/9175201.stm



If all these magic ingredients in Chinese medicine actually work, shouldn't the Chinese be a hell of a lot healthier? :eyes: