November is Manatee Awareness Month in Florida. It is also a time that they begin migrating to warmer inland waters. They may have left a little earlier this year due to an early November cold snap. When coastal water temperatures drop to 70 degrees, these tropical marine mammals move inland in search of warmer waters. [...]
Our friends at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have asked that we share this important information with our readers. In balmy spring weather, both manatees and boaters are cruising through Florida’s waterways. For manatees, it is a seasonal ritual when they abandon winter retreats and head north along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts [...]
One day after Manatee Appreciation Day was celebrated, the U.S. Department of Interior announced it was downlisting the West Indian manatee from endangered to threatened. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) said that notable increases in the manatee populations and improvements in its habitat contributed to changing the species’ status under the Endangered Species [...]
Mote Marine Laboratory asked us to share this information with you as this is such a busy season with activity in and on the water. Dolphins give birth during late spring and summer. Dolphins do not, or cannot always get out of the way of approaching boats, and fatal collisions have been documented in Sarasota [...]
In May of 2013 we reported that the Pacific Legal Foundation was suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to down list from endangered to threatened the manatee species found in the warm waters of Florida and elsewhere on the Atlantic Coast. Their client, Save Crystal River, Inc., opposes new federal boat speed regulations [...]
Hayley Rutger of Mote Marine Laboratory asked us to share this press release with you as July 4th is fast approaching and there will be a lot of activity in and on the water. Dolphins give birth during late spring and summer, and four dolphin calves have been born so far this year in Sarasota [...]
Recently, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) announced that over several days in February a team of 20 observers from 11 organizations counted 6,630 manatees in Florida this winter. The east coast count was 3,333 and 2,730 on the west coast of the state during this year’s aerial survey. This count exceeded the [...]
