Manta Rays are one of the most majestic of all ocean creatures, yet despite their ability to captivate humans, very little is known about their behavior.
Julie Hartup, director and founder of Micronesian Conservation Coalition wants to change that.
Julie is a current candidate for a Master’s of Science in Biology. She was the first person to document the gathering of Guam’s mantas to feed on fish eggs when the surgeonfish spawn.
This important research is a current part of Hartup’s master’s thesis at the University of Guam.
The whole mission behind Micronesian Conservation Coalition is to conserve island habitats and species on Guam and throughout Micronesia while reinforcing the community’s connection to the value of the ocean.
The majority of Guam’s marine biologists have been brought in from off island. Hartup believes that the islands residents should have more of a say in the matters surrounding the status of the ocean.
“As a marine biologist, one of the things that bother me is how often times people from off-island are brought in to be the experts of our waters, and really we should be the experts of our island” Hartup said.
By recruiting the next generation of hopeful marine biologists into the ranks of the MCC’s marine team, Hartup wants to use the experiences gained through manta research to encourage University of Guam students to get more involved in the scientific community.
“We live on an island, we have limited resources, and we really need to know how we need to manage those,” Hartup said. “We really are lacking students that are going in to marine sciences and we need students to come in to this field and help us manage it.”
William Naden, a biology major at the University of Guam, is one of the students Julie has inspired to join MCC’s cause.
“I was looking to be in an organization with a purpose, and given our current conditions in the marine ecosystem, MCC is that organization that I believe has a cause and they stand for what should be done” he said. “It’s nice to be a part of something that brings people with that sort of drive and enthusiasm together.”
Being a boat captain, Naden considers himself the “eyes of MCC”, as he is out on the water more than anybody else in the coalition. On a recent boat trip, Will noticed a large grey shape on the starboard side of his boat. Thinking it was a whale he stopped and realized it was actually a massive whale shark. He then passed the information on to Hartup who proceeds to monitor the whereabouts of the whale shark.
Naden sees himself as just a representative.
“Just like everybody else we go around and try and let everybody know ocean conservation is something we as a society should be paying more attention to, instead of watching Miley Cyrus shaking her ass on MTV,” he said.
In addition to the Manta Projects, MCC is monitoring the turtle populations of Ulithi Atoll in Yap, and researching the shark populations throughout Guam and Micronesia with the hope of sharing data with local fisherman and resource managers to better understand shark species and activities.
For more information visit MCC’s webpage at http://micronesianconservation.org/.
