Environment Protection Agency EPA has warned that the lives of ocean wildlife across the country are now in peril because of carelessly placed mooring lines.
In a tweet, EPA said that with the increasing number of mooring lines deployed throughout the country, the entanglement of megafauna such as manta rays and other marine life are on the rise, resulting in injury and death of wildlife.
It urged everyone to take preventive actions by ensuring that no excess space is left on the lines of mooring systems.
EPA also said that all should take measures to increase the visibility of the mooring lines.
Meanwhile, a global effort to research and conserve manta rays, the Manta Trust documented a tragic loss of such mooring lines today after it introduced Tambourine (MV-MA-2801), an adult reef manta ray.
Manta Trust said that Tambourine was first identified in 2011 and has been sighted 11 times in the Maldives.
It said that sadly, his twelfth sighting will be his last as Tambourine was found entangled in a mooring line that had not yet been fitted with mitigation measures to prevent such an incident.
Manta Trust noted that it is important that all mooring and buoy lines in the Maldives are modified to reduce the risk of manta ray entanglements.
