Welcome to the Manatee Project

My last day here in Sarasota, started off with a wonderful sighting in City Island Grass Flats. I was able to recognize two of the manatees by name, based upon their scar patterns. Raisin was there with her calf, along with Victoria who has a terrible series of scars on her back as you might recall from earlier in the week. The manatee that you see below spent his entire day following our boat as we navigated City Island Grass Flats. He was in no danger since the motor was off and the trolling motor was in place in the front of the boat. This behavior of his concerned me however, since following this closely behind a boat could certainly be a dangerous situation. This manatee is sub-adult, and Teresa said that they are the most curious. Unfortunately, this manatee's curiosity could get him some scars someday, or worse. As of know he is an indistinct animal. Do you remember what that means?

Notice how Raisin and her calf travel away from the boat. When a calf is about a year old, as this one is, they commonly travel next to mom and can easily keep up with her. Teresa indicated that they have been following and documenting Raisin for some time now since she frequents the Sarasota area often. They are quite certain that this is her first calf. Sometime next year she is expected to be spotted without him, as their relationship will end and the calf will become an independent sub-adult.

The manatee below, spotted by the side of our boat, has no scars but a distinct series of barnacles on his back. This allowed Mrs. Frederick and I to recognize him as an animal that we observe daily at Pansy Bayou during our land surveys. He will most likely keep this barnacle pattern all summer since his pattern of behavior seems to indicate that he will remain in the Sarasota Bay area. He is also a quite curious manatee who surfaced several times right next to the boat, as if he wanted to get a good look at us.

After this amazing sighting, where we were able to photograph and observe between ten and twelve manatees, our day took a turn for the worst. On our way to Siesta Key MERV decided to cut our last day in Sarasota Bay a bit short. Since the boat died and refused to start no matter what we tried, we were about to try to troll or paddle back to the dock which was quite a ways away. Fortunately for us, a local fisherman noticed that we were in trouble and offered to tow us in. He used our lines to tie our boat to his, and graciously pulled us back to the docks. We pulled MERV out of the water and made an appointment with a mechanic for sometime next week.

Since MERV was out of the water early, we began our cleaning of this watercraft earlier than expected. Once every two weeks or so, the scientists here at Mote must do a thorough cleaning of the research boats. This helps ensure that they will last longer and that all equipment will work well in the field. Everything from lifejackets, to tools, to the tower and the floors must be cleaned. We used scrubbing pads that worked like steel wool, a special cleaner called "Simple Green", and lots of muscle to get off all of the stains and rust that had accumulated since MERV's last cleaning.

While I scrubbed the sides and walls to remove all salt and residue, Mrs. Frederick was cleaning inside of the hatch where the life jackets are kept. The cleaner we get MERV, the less chance Teresa has of rotting on her research vessel. Salty air can eat away at the boat, causing thousands of dollars worth of repairs - money that would have to come from the manatee research fund.

The tower also needs to be scrubbed since we all stand on it during the day, and track mud, sand and salt from our feet. Replacing just the tower on a boat can be quite expensive. This is just another part of the scientist's job that they take in stride. Let me assure you that even after only a half day's work on the boat, that this cleaning in the 90 degree weather was quite an arduous assignment.

We were, however, quite pleased with the finished product a few hours later. Hopefully, after his visit to the boat doctor, he will be up and running again so that Teresa and her fellow scientists can track and document more manatees in this area.

After our last boating experience, we went to Pansy Bayou to complete our final land survey. It occurred to me, while I packed up the camera below, that this would be the last time I would see a manatee for quite some time. But, I did pause and smile, as I realized how much work I had done to help the manatees here in Sarasota Bay. I realized how much we had all learned together, and how excited I was to get back to Rhode Island to develop an action plan of our own - something that you and I can do to help this amazing endangered animal.