This is the heartwarming moment fishermen release 30 endangered manta rays stuck in a fishing trawler net in southern Thailand.<br /><br />The seamen were on their evening shift sailing the western edge of Phuket island on July 10 when they came across the marine animals splashing around frantically in their catch.<br /><br />Footage recorded by the ship's captain shows his colleagues helping an estimated 30 manta rays caught in the net.<br /><br />In the video, the fishermen jumped into the sea and released the tension in the net so that the marine animals could be freed<br /><br />Bird said that this is not the first time they encountered marine creatures getting entangled in their nets but they always free them.<br /><br />He said: "We would not harm any protected species, we will only take the fish that we are supposed to catch."<br /><br />Manta rays are classed as 'vulnerable' on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.<br /><br />They are threatened by pollution, entanglement in fishing nets, and illegal fishing for their gill rakers which are used in Chinese medicine.
