Welcome to the Manatee Project


This is a picture of the bank where they capture manatees for telemetry here in Matlacha. They stretch a net across to the other side of this part of the canal and try to pull at least four on to the shore. Do you remember what telemetry involves?	These signs are also up in the Matlacha area. The people in this community are not very pleased with manatee research being performed in this area. Many of them openly voice how much they do not like the restrictions on boating speeds and have told both Sherri and Teresa on several occasions that they should round up the manatees and take them back where they came from. Of course we all know that manatees have been in Florida for thousands of years. Its interesting how many people are still not educated about something that is right in their back yard!

This is one of the canal systems that Teresa and Rachel took depth measurements in today. The white areas along the top (near Mr. Ireland's house) are where they worked today.	Teresa and Rachel also worked in these canals near North Pine Island. Judging from all of these maps, how would you define a "canal"?

Take another look at the map of Matlacha canal, and lets see how helpful you might have been out on that boat today. When I was measuring depths in Site #2, I was measuring a cross section that ran from the south to the north. What directions did I use in Site #4? Site #7a? How about in Site #7b?	Mrs. Frederick is holding the rope that we used for depth measurements. Lets try a little math here. If she measured a spot that was 6 feet, 2 inches, can you change that do a fraction? A decimal? How about a spot that was 8 feet, 6 inches? Or one that was 14 feet, 4 inches?