The Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF) has been named an official Impact Partner for the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) Playing For the Planet - Green Game Jam 2023.

The Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF) has partnered with Immotion, the leading provider of location-based VR edutainment, to create an educational and immersive virtual reality (VR) experience titled "Flight of the Mantas."

It is with profound sadness and a heavy heart that MMF mourns the passing of Major-General Sir Sebastian John Lechmere Roberts, KCVO, OBE, one of our respected and esteemed board members.

New research by the Marine Megafauna Foundation, has extended the southern range of the reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) in Africa, connecting the longest monitored and highly vulnerable population of reef manta rays along southern Mozambique to the UNESCO World Heritage site of iSimangaliso in South Africa.

New collaborative research on giant oceanic manta rays off the Ecuadorian coast has definitively identified more individuals than any other location in the world, with over 2,800 identified during the 14-year study period.

In August 2022, MMF led by Co-founder Dr Andrea Marshall spoke with Prince Harry and a US congressional delegation to give unique insight and a virtual tour of Mozambique’s extraordinarily rich underwater world as part of our ongoing efforts to promote and expand Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the region

A major new investigative piece from today’s New York Times, “How China Targets the Global Fishing Supply”, highlights how this enormous international fishing fleet has spread across the world’s oceans. The Galapagos Islands are a prime fishing target due to the abundant ocean wildlife.

MMF first began as the ‘Manta & Whale Shark Research Centre’ in Tofo, Mozambique, where Andrea Marshall completed the world’s first PhD on the biology and ecology of manta rays. Years later, she and the MMF team continue as world leaders in manta ray research and conservation. To help celebrate these majestic sea flap-flaps, we’ve compiled some updates on the latest discoveries on manta ray from our global team:

The study reveals that these rays regularly form social groups and that their relationships depend on individual differences in movement behavior.

After 20 years of research and lobbying efforts, the Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF) is thrilled to announce a major legislative victory for ocean life in Mozambique. A new commercial fishing law enacts sweeping protections for several threatened species, including whale sharks, manta rays, and all mobula species.

The conservation status of the giant (or oceanic) manta ray (Mobula birostris) has been uplisted today to Endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

The first study on manta rays off the coast of Florida, published today by Endangered Species Research, has discovered a potential urban nursery ground for manta rays. Juvenile manta rays were regularly sighted in the shallow waters along Florida’s coastline, the first time a nursery habitat has been discovered in such a highly developed urban […]

A new landmark study published today in Nature by Global FinPrint reveals sharks are virtually absent on many of the world’s coral reefs, indicating they are too rare to fulfill their normal role in the ecosystem, otherwise referred to as “functionally extinct.” Of the 371 reefs surveyed in 58 countries, sharks were not observed on […]

Global lockdowns pose few problems for whale sharks off Tanzania. New research shows that these gigantic fish prefer to stay in the bay they call home. Scientists regard whale sharks as a “highly migratory” species, capable of swimming tens of thousands of kilometers each year. However, a study published today in the journal Frontiers in […]

A photo of gannets using discarded nets and ropes to build their nests highlights the increasing problem of plastic pollution for marine life. The image was highly commended in the 2020 Underwater Photographer of the Year competition this week. Dr. Simon J Pierce, a principal scientist at the Marine Megafauna Foundation and wildlife photographer for […]

In a new study, published in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series, researchers from the Marine Megafauna Foundation, University of Western Australia and Utrecht University used acoustic telemetry to identify critical habitat areas and understand movement patterns of reef manta rays in the waters off Mozambique’s Inhambane Province. […]