a joint letter<\/a>, members of Congress, the Florida House and the Florida Senate wrote that \u201cauthorizing the removal of a threatened marine species for foreign display represents a significant departure from the values and principles that have traditionally guided FWC and Florida\u2019s wildlife policy.\u201d<\/p>\nThe letter was signed by U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, a Stuart Republican, along with state Reps. Lindsay Cross, D-St. Petersburg, Peggy Gossett-Seidman, R-Highland Beach, and Meg Weinberger, R-Palm Beach Gardens. Democrat-turned-independent state Sen. Jason Pizzo added his support as well.<\/p>\n
Cross said she appreciated the response from wildlife officials, but she\u2019d like more prompt action on permanent changes. She added that she still has unanswered questions about the approval process for the special licenses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am glad to see interest in this,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are going to try to keep this in the public eye. We don\u2019t know the fate of the current manta ray that was captured. If there is anything we can do to prevent it from living the rest of its life in captivity, we\u2019d like to see that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
SeaWorld Abu Dhabi has not responded to several requests for comment on the fate of that animal.<\/p>\n
FWC\u2019s authorization to capture threatened ray and shark species has been removed from five previously issued licenses, Barreto wrote.<\/p>\n
SeaWorld Abu Dhabi was only authorized to collect one manta ray this year, so no additional ones will be collected, he added.<\/p>\n
Daniel Ashe, president and CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, said Florida\u2019s licensing program is highly regulated and allows marine life to be collected for research and to educate the public about the need for conservation. The most significant threats to manta rays are boat strikes, fishing nets, illegal hunting and climate change, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis very tiny harvest of animals for public display \u2026 is sustainable,\u201d he said. \u201cIn no way is it contributing to the decline of these populations in nature, and it provides us with invaluable opportunities to learn about them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just a handful of aquariums in the world display the manta ray. Ashe said he sees value in allowing the species to be exported.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for the people of Florida to speak to the rest of the world and give the rest of the world the opportunity to see the majesty of these animals and help conserve them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
FWC agreed that showcasing the state\u2019s marine life can be beneficial, writing in its letter that accredited aquariums \u201cplay a vital role in conservation efforts\u201d and that those animals become \u201cambassadors for their species.\u201d But the agency wants to make sure that granting licenses for their capture does not \u201cnegatively impact Florida\u2019s living marine resources.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jessica Pate, founder of the Florida Manta Project, said she thinks manta rays are not well-suited to captivity because of their intelligence and migratory patterns. With a wingspan up to 26 feet, the animal can grow to 5,300 pounds, about as much as a car.<\/p>\n
Florida wildlife officials have granted licenses in recent years to capture a manta ray to the Nausica\u00e1 Centre National de la Mer in France, Chongqing Andover Ocean Park in China and another facility in the United Arab Emirates, The National Aquarium Abu Dhabi, according to records obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.<\/p>\n
So far, none of those aquariums have obtained manta rays under the licenses issued over the past five years, wildlife officials said. Now, they will not be allowed to keep searching for one.<\/p>\n
The Georgia Aquarium, the only U.S. aquarium to showcase the manta ray, received a license, too, but a spokesman said it has no plans to acquire another manta ray.<\/p>\n
Two of the three manta rays on display in a 6.3 million-gallon habitat at the Atlanta facility were taken from Florida waters about 15 years ago, according to the aquarium.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: September 5, 2025 at 6:21 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida\u2019s wildlife agency has temporarily suspended licenses that allow aquariums to capture threatened sharks and rays as\u00a0it weighs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[192,2808,2558,983,3,79,5262,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-138106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-social","15":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138106","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=138106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}