{"id":137724,"date":"2025-09-06T19:11:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T19:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/137724\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T19:11:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T19:11:08","slug":"legal-capture-of-endangered-manta-ray-sparks-bipartisan-outrage-in-florida-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/137724\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal capture of endangered manta ray sparks bipartisan outrage in Florida | Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida<\/a> authorities have agreed to review the issuing of special permits allowing companies to capture endangered creatures<\/a> to sell, after an outcry over the netting of a huge manta ray for an aquarium in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n

The review comes after a viral video<\/a> released on 12 July showed a boat crew capturing a giant manta ray off a Panama City beach in Florida and pulling it onto their boat, sparking outrage among the community. A dolphin tour operator who witnessed and filmed the scene confronted the crew and asked whether they would release the manta ray, but they explained they had a legal permit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe manta ray was hooked under the wing, and it was obviously exhausted,\u201d Denis Richard, the founder of the Water Planet US dolphin tour company, who filmed the video, said in a telephone interview on Saturday. \u201cI started telling them that they should be ashamed of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was later confirmed that the crew were contractors working for SeaWorld Abu Dhabi to supply an aquarium there, and the company holding the permit was Dynasty Marine Associates, based in Marathon, Florida<\/a>. The permit was issued by the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC).<\/p>\n

The plankton-feeding giant manta ray, the world\u2019s largest ray with a wingspan of up to 26ft, is federally listed as an endangered species<\/a>, with commercial fishing as its greatest US threat. The species is both directly targeted and caught as bycatch. Manta rays are especially valued in specialized commercial circles for their gill plates<\/a>, which are traded internationally.<\/p>\n

\"FootageFootage of giant manta ray captured in Florida in July sparks outrage \u2013 video<\/p>\n

After the video went viral, a bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers signed a letter<\/a> urging Florida\u2019s wildlife agency to revoke the permit that allowed the manta ray to be caught. The letter also called for the suspension of any future \u201cmarine special activity licenses\u201d that allow for the limited capture of endangered species, as reported earlier<\/a> by various Florida media outlets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis practice raises fundamental concerns about the FWC\u2019s role in upholding its mission of conservation and wildlife preservation,\u201d reads the letter signed by Republican representative Brian Mast, independent state senator Jason Pizzo and state house representatives Lindsay Cross, a Democrat, and Peggy Gossett-Seidman and Meg Weinberger, both Republicans.<\/p>\n

Dynasty Marine Associates did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Rodney Barreto, chair of the FWC, replied to the lawmakers\u2019 letter on Friday, confirming that the agency would \u201crevisit\u201d the policies that allow companies to capture federally protected marine species for aquariums. He said the rule hearings will occur in 2026. He also said the agency, since 19 August, stopped issuing the permits that allow the capture of sharks and manta rays listed under the Endangered Species Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand both your concerns and those raised by the public following the recent harvest of a giant manta ray,\u201d Barreto wrote. \u201cWe are revisiting our policies related to issuing [marine special activity licenses<\/a>] involving prohibited marine species.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move represents progress for marine wildlife advocates such as Richard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe manta ray is on the list of protected species, and there is a reason,\u201d he said. \u201cThe species is on its way out, like a lot of other species<\/a>, so they need to be protected<\/a>. If they\u2019re not, then their number will dwindle, and we\u2019ll see what\u2019s happened with many species that aren\u2019t on this planet any more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida authorities have agreed to review the issuing of special permits allowing companies to capture endangered creatures to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-137724","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}