Day 40.

A gloomy cloudy morning at Guinjata. At around 7:30 two fishermen swam out to the gill net. The wind has picked up in the last few days and the breakwater is very choppy. After about 30minutes we see the two men wading out of the breakers with the gill net wrapped around two large objects. Six other men run over to help haul the net up the beach another takes a "cuda" (queen mackerel over 1m long) from the swimmer. As we draw closer we see the wing tips of a ray. "Another two devil rays!" one of the more friendly fishermen tells me. He is enthusiastic, it has been a good week for them, I force a smile of agreement as they untangle to two beautiful rays. We must keep our composure and remember that these men are doing their job even if what they bring up in their nets is sometimes very endangered. Losing our temper will actually be unproductive and cause hostility. The net is 60m long so it takes some time for the men to untangle. The first ray comes out and is hurled to one side for us to measure and weigh. It is about 80cm from nose to base of tail with 116m wing span and weighing 20kg. It is also pregnant.

We move onto the next ray and immediately see that it too is pregnant. Rays can have very long gestation periods, from a few months to more than 2 years. Often the baby is fully developed in the womb but still unborn so that it can be born quickly and healthily if the mother is under stress. The fact that these two babies had not been born in the net suggests that they were not mature enough.