40 NGOs and 80 citizens call on the country to support a total ban on international trade of the species.
(San José, Costa Rica – November 26, 2025). Last Friday, November 21, forty Costa Rican NGOs and coastal marine tourism businesses sent a letter to the Minister of Environment, Franz Tattenbach, calling on the country to vote in favor of banning the international trade of the Giant Manta Ray, during the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), whose twentieth Conference of the Parties (CoP20) is taking place this week and next in Samarkand, Uzbekistan (November 24 to December 5). At the CoP20, Parties will vote on the proposal to transfer the Giant Manta Ray from Appendix II, which allows international trade of its products under certain restrictions, to Appendix I, which bans all international trade. Approving this transfer requires a two-thirds majority vote in Plenary, out of a total of 185 countries.
The Giant Manta Ray has been listed as Endangered since 2019 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is targeted in fisheries for its meat and for exporting its gill plates to Asian countries, and it is also a common bycatch in pelagic purse-seine and longline fisheries. Its tendency to form predictable aggregations in coastal waters increases its vulnerability to fishing.
In Costa Rica, the Giant Manta Ray is not targeted by fisheries, nor are its products exported, although it does occur as an incidental catch in pelagic fisheries. The species forms aggregations in several areas of the country, including Caño Island, Cocos Island, and the Bat Islands, and genetic population data show strong structuring, suggesting that the Costa Rican population is unique and independent from Mexican and Ecuadorian populations. Furthermore, the Giant Manta Ray is a cornerstone species for low-impact tourism, generating substantial income for coastal communities and contributing directly to at least 12 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Costa Rica must be consistent with its marine conservation discourse and vote in favor of full protection of the Giant Manta Ray from international trade,” stated Daniel Arauz of the Marine Species Rescue Center of Costa Rica (CREMA). “We citizens strongly believe that the country should lead international processes that demonstrate that conserving the species benefits the nation’s sustainable development,” Arauz said.
“We call on the Costa Rican delegation at CITES to follow the best available science and vote in favor of the full protection from international trade that this species so urgently needs,” urged Jeffry Madrigal of Mantas Costa Rica. “We will keep Costa Ricans who work in marine conservation and practice sustainable, low-impact marine tourism informed about the negotiations in Samarkand, Uzbekistan,” Madrigal added.
For more information:
Jeffry Madrigal Mesén
President
Mantas Costa Rica (MCR)
+506 8859 6514
jmadrigal@mantascostarica.org
Daniel Arauz Naranjo
Executive Director
Marine Threatened Species Rescue Center (CREMA)
+506 8328 1473
darauz@cremacr.org
