Kayaking, Isaac Newton, and Endangered Manatees?
 |
| Sales of a new Swift kayak paddle with a manatee design will raise funds for manatee conservation and help educate the public. Buy one today! |
By Judith Vallee, Director of Development
Save the Manatee Club
“For every action, there is a reaction,” so said Sir Isaac Newton, the 18th century English physicist and mathematician in his Third Law of Motion. His words, as we have come to understand them, refer to our actions that always produce consequences. Actions we take have effects, and not always good ones.
Take, for instance, how our actions affect wildlife. When we humans interact with wildlife, we may do harm without even knowing it. A case in point is the swim-with-the-manatee programs in Crystal River, Florida, a small town on Florida’s west coast that is home to over 400 endangered manatees during the winter months. Swimming and diving with manatees, although seemingly benign, can lead to manatee harassment, and in some scenarios, contribute to a manatee’s injury or even death.
|
Many manatees are harassed at Crystal River each year. (Photo © David R. Schrichte)
|
|
“The best way to observe manatees in the wild is through passive observation – that means no touching, no chasing, no feeding, and no watering wild manatees. Remember that the manatees are here not to entertain us, but to survive,” says Matt Clemons, a veteran environmentalist who runs kayak ecotours from his shop, Aardvark’s Florida Kayak Company, in Crystal River. Matt is a former state manatee researcher and a board member of Save the Manatee Club.
Matt buys his kayak paddles from a Washington-based company, Eddyline Kayaks, a small 38 year old, family owned, and environmentally conscious company run by Tom and Lisa Derrer. When Steve Sapienza, their Midwest representative, visited Crystal River and went kayaking with Matt, he saw incidents of manatee harassment firsthand. Steve chose to take action. This time “the consequences” were positive: Tom and Lisa decided to introduce a new kayak paddle to their Swift Paddles line. The new paddle has a fabric inlay featuring a manatee print. For each of these paddles sold, Eddyline is donating $15 to Save the Manatee Club for their manatee conservation work. Steve and Tracy Colson, a Crystal River manatee advocate, also developed a Kayaker’s Pledge outlining how to kayak with manatees and observe them without causing them harm.
OK – so maybe it’s fun to swim with manatees. But what about Newton and his Third Law of Motion?
 |
Matt Clemons shows that conscientious kayaking can be a great alternative to the swim-with programs. (Photo by Steve Kingery)
|
|
Over 100,000 people descend on the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge in winter to don snorkel or scuba gear and dive with manatees. Some have been caught on tape riding manatees, kicking them, separating dependent calves from their mothers, and chasing manatees. All of these actions are considered harassment, which is illegal under the federal Endangered Species Act. And that begs the question: Just how much interaction should be allowed between divers and manatees, especially in a national refuge created to protect these endangered marine mammals?
“The shear numbers of people diving with manatees can disrupt these gentle giants. We support increased education, protection measures, and enforcement to mitigate the cumulative effects of all these people trying to have a personal experience with a manatee. Conscientious kayaking can be a great alternative to the swim-with programs and we’re very grateful to Eddyline and to Matt for their efforts to address the on-going problems that human/manatee interaction can create,” said Patrick Rose, an aquatic biologist and executive director of Save the Manatee Club.
Lisa Derrer is thrilled that Eddyline can help, “Kayaking can be one of the least intrusive ways to enjoy the natural world and to observe wildlife, and we’re happy that our product will be a benefit to endangered manatees.”
For a schedule of Save the Manatee Club’s Crystal River winter kayak tours for members, please revisit our website after September 1st.
###
