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Sargeant column: Slow Down For Manatees

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Frank Sargeant/The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 30, 2007

By nearly all accounts, Florida's manatee population has made an amazing recovery in the past 30 years. The state once estimated that only 600 to 800 remained, while today the fewest that have been counted during recent winters is 3,100. It's likely the total is much higher, because the warm winters recently have not concentrated the animals in areas where they can be counted readily.

But that said, every year we lose manatees to boat strikes, one of the few preventable causes of death to these marine mammals. And winter is the time when many strikes occur because the manatees, seeking warm water, are sometimes forced into areas of high boat traffic.

Kipp Frolich, who heads the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Imperiled Species Management section, says boaters can help keep the manatees safe during the annual migration by following a few simple procedures:

•Obey manatee zone signs and travel in marked safe channels when possible. Keeping speeds moderate in these channels also can give more avoidance time should a manatee be sighted.

Beat The Glare

•Wear polarized glasses to help you see through the surface glare to pick out animals cruising just below the surface. When manatees are on top or coming up to breathe, they're at great risk of a boat strike.

•Use a push-pole, paddle or trolling motor when in close proximity to a manatee. Some of the animals have become conditioned to boats and don't do much to get out of the way. However, even a boat moving at idle speed can severely injure an animal if the prop makes contact.

•Assign one crew member to keep a manatee watch anytime you're boating. When our sons were young, this was their duty - and they became very good at it. It's a great assignment for children and gives them a sense of the importance of protecting these fascinating creatures.

•Where you see one manatee, be alert for others nearby.

"If you see a manatee, give it plenty of room," Frolich said. "It may have a calf, or be traveling with several others."

Though manatees regularly exceed weights of 1,000 pounds and lengths of 6 feet, it can be surprisingly hard to see them. Often, the only clue is the tip of the nose popping above the surface as the animal fills its lungs - a very difficult thing to pick out in low light or if there's a wind ripple.

Somewhat more obvious are the characteristic "manatee swirls," a line of half-moon-shaped boils on the surface, created as the animal sweeps its horizontal tail up and down to travel. And at times, manatees roll, a bit like a porpoise but much slower, showing a good portion of their back and tail.

Frolich said manatees head for warm water refuges when water temperatures dip below 68 degrees. As of Wednesday, the average Gulf temperature was 69, but inshore waters get considerably cooler overnight, and manatees have been moving into their winter quarters for the past several weeks.

In The Zones

Basically, the refuge areas are the same sorts of spots that attract snook in winter; black-water rivers fed by springs, deep residential canals and power-plant outflows are choice locations. Many of these have been designated slow-speed or no-entry zones to protect the animals.

Unfortunately, there's little manatee food in the canals and power plants, so manatees in these areas have to make daily returns to grassy areas to feed, repeatedly exposing them to boat traffic outside their protected zones.

Manatees typically feed and travel in water 3 to 6 feet deep. Water that's much shallower won't float them, and water that's much deeper doesn't support grass except in exceptionally clear areas. So anytime boaters travel in these depths, caution is a must.

In general, manatee zones are clearly marked, but unfortunately manatees can't read and they don't stay in the zones. It's up to boaters, particularly during the cooler periods, to avoid the gentle giants and make sure their recovery continues.

MANATEE ZONES ON TAMPA BAY

NO ENTRY ZONE: The discharge canal from the TECO power plant at Apollo Beach is winter home to hundreds of manatees, and is off limits to all boats from Nov. 15-March 31.

IDLE ZONE: The approaches to the TECO power plant are designated idle zones because dozens of manatees pass in and out daily. The zone is effective Nov. 15-March 31.

SLOW ZONES: All waters from the TECO power plant south to the Manatee County line, from shore to the 6-foot contour, are designated slow-speed zones year-round, with the exception of marked entry channels at Little Harbor, the Little Manatee River and the Cockroach Bay boat ramp. The east shore of Old Tampa Bay from Rocky Point to Gandy Bridge is also a year-round slow zone. There's an added slow zone, effective only April 1-Nov. 15, west of Rocky Point and north of the Courtney Campbell Parkway. An added slow zone exists at the mouth of the Alafia River upstream to U.S. 41 year-round.

MORE INFO: For maps and full details, visit www.MyFWC.com/manatee/rules.

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