"Oh, that guy is not even a diver. What does he know about marine life? "

 

If the real manta man is confronted with the facts as described below, that is what he would tell you. 

 

The waters of Yap have been blessed with a (small) population of reef mantas. The manta man successfully branded Yap as a dive destination where you could (guaranteed) encounter these majestic creatures. In the past, he even offered hotel/dive packages that guaranteed scuba divers at least one encounter with mantas while diving with his dive shop.

 

Throughout the years, the number of encounters that divers visiting Yap has diminished. This led to a point where several tour operators (especially the German-speaking market) actively stopped selling packages/travel to Yap. The reason for this had multiple reasons; in the meantime, other dive destinations evolved that were a habitat for larger (reef) manta populations. At the end, divers are tourists who want to experience what they have paid for: encountering mantas.

 

But there's more. 

 

The manta population in Yap's water has been shown to be vulnerable, though. Being a bycatch of commercial fishing is one of the causes of the manta population in the Yapese waters being under stress. This factor can not be influenced by manta man.

 

Another reason is the years' degradation of so-called (manta) cleaning stations. 

 

For non-divers or people not familiar with the scuba dive industry, see (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleaning_station) and https://scienceinsights.org/what-happens-at-a-manta-ray-cleaning-station/ .

 

During my employment with the manta man, I asked our house-underwater-photographer and a marine biologist to assess the situation regarding the diminishing presence of manta rays in the cleaning stations that scuba divers were taken to by the dive shop operated by the manta man.

 

Without asking me, they called the project "Saving the Mantas” and provided a whole collection of underwater images showing the degraded state of the marine ecosystem within those cleaning stations. Their analysis was clear: By overusing the manta cleaning stations for decades for scuba divers to observe the mantas, the marine life (e.g., habitats for the cleaner fish) was significantly degraded. 

 

The three of us had a meeting with the manta man to discuss the findings and analysis presented by the marine biologist and house-underwater-photographer, but short-term monetary gain prevailed over long-term sustainable tourism development, no action was taken by the manta man, who blocked any initiative to improve the understanding of the manta's behaviour and protect their wellbeing. 

 

Why am I bringing up those insights?

Certainly not to harm the entity of Manta Ray Bay Resort & Yap Divers, nor to jeopardize the attempts of the Yap and FSM governments to develop a sustainable tourism sector that benefits the FSM, the state of Yap, and its people. 

 

If you enter the lobby of the aforementioned resort, you stumble over a showcase highlighting "all" the accomplishments of the manta man within the dive industry, like his induction in the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame, and hinting at the contribution to the (sustainable) development) of Yap's tourism sector. Those contributions are certainly there, but highly overrated, andI dare to say that the marine life has been negatively affected by the short-term oriented/driven by self-interest actions by the  manta man.

 

The shark and manta ray sanctuary, as established by the government of Yap, is mainly the work/efforts done by his stepdaughter. 

 

Hopefully, his stepdaughter and son-in-law are/will do a better job in this area.