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Introduction  Article 1: First Encounter Article 2: Endangered
Article 3: Protection Conclusion: Preservation
 My journey with the manatees of Crystal River began almost a year ago. I intended to swim with them and write a short article on how "cool" the experience was. My first manatee was ever so "cool" and ever so fortunate that she was not yet scarred or mutilated by man, a fact I only discovered upon further manatee encounters. The deep propeller slashes and the skeg gashes; the mutilated and amputated flippers; the flayed tails...all ripped at my heart. One article would not be enough, a book of 1,000 pages will not be enough.
I do not want to live in a world without manatees for it will be a sad and lonely place. Condos and emerald green golf courses and luxury speed boats can never replace the beauty of nature at it's best, the gentle, unassuming Florida manatee. This journey cannot end.
Ideally, the manatees, the wolves, the salmon and all those now lost to eternity would have remained wild beings roaming freely along their ancient paths; however, those paths no longer exist due to man's interference. We continue to build sea walls to allow development of waterfront properties. The sea walls damage or destroy grass beds upon which the manatees feed. We build golf courses at the waters edge and do not care that nitrate runoff from fertilizers causes algal growth which chokes out much needed vegetation in the manatees' habitats. Statistics show an influx of new residents to the State of Florida, sometimes as many as 900 per day with many moving to within 10 miles of the shores. The demand for a supportive infrastructure cannot keep pace so we substitute septic tanks for sewage facilities. Leeching from the tanks finds its way into the manatees' waters. Power plants providing warm water discharge wherein the manatees seek shelter are now deregulated and may shut down as maintenance becomes less cost effective than purchasing power from a grid. If the warm water discharges are abruptly turned off where then will the manatees find protection from the cold? Several have already lost their lives when a power plant failed and there was no where else to go.
There are many hundreds of thousands of boats registered in Florida with an estimated additional 300,000 brought in during the winter months. With what may well be over 1,000,000 boats using Florida's waterways boaters should be beyond reproach in complying with current laws yet these laws are ignored by 40-60% of operators because law enforcement is underfunded and understaffed and those officers who are in place cannot be everywhere at once.
Preventing the extinction of the Florida manatee has reached far beyond the critical point and drastic action must be taken immediately in light of the rapidly increasing death rate. The Florida Marine Research Institute, National Fish and Wildlife Service, the Florida Wildlife Commission, and the Department of Environmental Protection have joined together in a working group to share information and facilitate implementation of laws and protection plans. Citizens' groups continue in their efforts to educate the public and provide volunteers where ever needed. Beleaguered law enforcement officers patrol vast areas often alone and in poor weather conditions.
Manatee tour operators also provide a critical element in the preservation of our vanishing manatees by providing public interaction which often instills a desire and passion to learn more and take action. While there are some involved with manatees who would see public interaction eliminated one must take a universal view of all the elements involved in preserving a species. When conducted properly by following the prescribed guidelines which require each participant to attend an encounter education program prior to boarding a tour boat, by distributing brochures to each participant which outline proper encounter behavior, and by having a trained boat captain supervising every encounter these tours keep the manatees in the public eye. As learned in other areas of the world, when a species becomes more valuable to save than to destroy, public attention is an invaluable asset. Without encounter tours manatees would become invisible to the general public and invisibility will bring our manatees even closer to the brink of extinction.
We may not always agree on the best way to preserve the manatees but our hearts are in the right place and through cooperation and continued communication we must be successful in this endeavor. Loosing this battle will not only be the loss of one more species.....it will be a giant leap in the loss of our humanity.
CREDITS: I will forever be indebted to Captain Charlie Slider for his support, hospitality, and willingness to teach me about the manatees for which he cares so much; to Bill and Diane Oestreich of Bird's Underwater for finding space on their boats for me and for their efforts in educating the public as to the plight of the manatees; to Captain Joe Detrick for finding my first manatee and patiently waiting with his boat while I spent hours in the water; to Eileen Nunez of the National Fish and Wildlife Service for statistical data and a heartfelt talk on the banks of Kings Bay; to Dr. Mark Lowe for his advice and information and for his dedication to preserving the remaining manatees; to Bob Verlato and other officers who are on the water day in and day out performing the thankless job of enforcing laws; and to the many others who are working diligently to save a vanishing species: the Florida Marine Research Institute, Friends of Chassahowitzka, Sirenia Project, and those as yet unknown to this author.
© Becky A. Dayhuff 2001
Introduction Article 1: First Encounter Article 2: Endangered
Article 3: Protection Conclusion: Preservation
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