Mantas offered a ray of hope

The first ever conservation programme to help endangered manta rays gets under way in the Red Sea next month with the help of a team from Yorkshire.

Science officer Graham Hill and senior aquarist Ben Jones, from the Deep in Hull, will be helping tag some of the hundreds of mantas that congregate in the Dungonab Bay Marine Park in Sudan to learn more about their movements.

Mantas can live for over 20 years and are a “near-threatened” species. Curator Katy Duke said: “The Cousteau 
Society came to us asking for assistance which was fantastic.”