Manatee Update

I love manatees. See my previous blog about them, as well as two articles I've written about manatees and manatee conservation. For Christmas my brother Michael adopted a manatee, Lenny, for me. As a result, I receive The Manatee Zone, a publication of the Save the Manatee Club, quarterly. I wanted to pass on some information from that publication here.

Manatees cannot survive in cold water, and thus rely on warm-water habitats which are being gobbled up at alarming rates. As of April 24th of this year, Florida has already lost 191 manatees (45 due to low temperatures and 33 to watercraft). That is an astonishing number. A record number of manatees (417) died in 2006, and by April 24th of that year only 154 had died, which means we could be setting a new record this year, and not one to brag about.

Good news: Legislatively, funding was secured to help acquire the Three Sisters Spring, a vital warm-water manatee refuge, as well as for the critical care program which rescues manatees in trouble.

However the battle is not over. Dade County has an excellent Manatee Protection Plan, which spurred the development of a committee which helped head off the downlisting of the manatee from the endangered species list. However, the Plan is always vulnerable to being opened for change, in order to allow room for development and increased boating access, which likely would affect critical manatee habitat.

If you are interested in conserving manatees, I encourage you to visit www.savethemanatee.org/action.htm to sign up for action alerts to keep you informed and allow you to take action on pertinent issues affecting manatees.

Magnificent Manatees

My brother, Michael, adopted a manatee for me for my birthday. His name is Lenny, and his mother Luna brought him with her to Blue Springs State Park Florida in 1978, making him older than I am! The Save the Manatee Club, which administers the adoption program, says that he prefers rest to all other activities; additionally, he has suffered several run-ins with boats, evident by the numerous scars on his back and tail. Manatees face numerous threats, most human-induced, and all living members of the order Sirenia are listed as threatened to some degree (except for the Stellar's Sea Cow, which we managed to hunt to extinction less than 3 decades after we discovered it). In 2008, a total of 337 manatee deaths were recorded.

I have been lucky enough to have snorkeled with manatees on two occasions. They are magnificent animals. Once you've lowered yourself into uncomfortably cold water (winter is the best time to find them, as they concentrate in warm water areas) and your wetsuit slowly fills, shivering, you stick your mask in the water and slowly paddle off, looking side to side, searching for your target. It is an eerie feeling when from out of the murk rises a creature weighing more than you; for a moment your heart flutters, as all of your instincts scream that you should feel fear, and then you rationalize that this is a gentle vegetarian, and once you calm down... WOW. What an amazing experience! We were instructed NOT to chase the manatees, but that if we were approached by them, it was okay to touch. So, when I was approached by them, I touched! And it was SO COOL. It was hard not to follow after them as they swam past, wanting to prolong the encounter for as long as possible. However, I soon discovered that this was unnecessary, because as soon as one left, another would appear. At times it even seemed the manatees were seeking US out... which I was fascinated by. I cannot think of a single other wild animal encounter I have had where the animal actually approached me (except for once when a curious dolphin swam right beneath my kayak). I was hooked!

Problem is, I have since become more educated on manatees and their plight. I know that human interference causes undue stress and alters their activity patterns and behavior, and can be detrimental to this already imperiled species. Even though the dive shop we went with SAID we could not chase/harass the manatees, as we were patrolling the waters in our boat, looking for a manatee so that we could put in, I felt like I was in a hive of buzzing bees, and the bees were the various dive shop boats, all seeking the same target. When a manatee was spotted... it was like a race to for each company to get their clients in first. Who's chasing manatees now? And many other snorkelers did chase the manateees, despite what they were told. I found it interesting that the article I wrote on manatee conservation (with human harassment being listed as a problem) displays numerous google ads on manatee tours! Kind of contradictory to my point. I'm not saying NOT to take a tour to see manatees, as it is an incredible experience, but research the dive shops before choosing one, and patronize one who puts the manatees' needs first and teaches manatee conservation. And definitely do not chase or harass the manatees when you should be lucky enough to encounter one! If the dive company participates in chasing after manatees, let them know of your disapproval and notify them that you will not patronize them again. It is their business, and they want happy customers. If they know that people do care about the manatees' well-being, they will try and cater to that mindset.