Devil rays receive new protection
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New regulations will be in force from the 4th April 2017!
By Jane Hosegood
The highly threatened devil ray has received a new level of protection at a recent international meeting on wildlife trade.
People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) grantee Jane Hosegood updated us on this latest good news after attending the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in Johannesburg. She is an expert in ray genetics and current leads a PTES-funded study with the aim of developing genetic tools for their conservation.
Protecting the devil rays!
Both the devil rays, and their sister group, the Manta rays, are fished in huge numbers to supply the international demand for their gill plates, which are used as a pseudo-remedy in some traditional medicines, despite no evidence that they provide any real health benefit. This trade is unsustainable, as these species have a very slow reproductive rate, and so are unable to recover from exploitation. Sadly, as a res...
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