Prior to a health assessment, a manatee with old scars from a previous injury is captured and placed on board the research boat. The procedures are performed in order to test the general health of the manatee population in Kings Bay, located in Crystal River, Florida. (Photo by Courtney Edwards, Save the Manatee Club)

By Courtney Edwards
Staff Biologist, Save the Manatee Club

On the morning of November 9, 2011, I set off bright and early to attend my first manatee captures and health assessments in Crystal River, Florida. At 7:30 a.m., a group of about 80 biologists, veterinarians, students, and other observers gathered at a marina to board the boats shuttling us to the small beach where we would spend most of the day. The assessments were led by the U.S. Geological Survey's Sirenia Project and included personnel from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the University of Florida, among others.

Researchers work quickly after the manatee is captured and placed on the beach. (Photos by Courtney Edwards, SMC)

Throughout the day, people occasionally approached us asking what was going on and why it is necessary to perform these health assessments on manatees. Such procedures are performed in order to test the general health of the manatee population in Kings Bay.

Manatee health is tested many ways, including through blood work, weight, body temperature, breathing rates, heart rates, ultrasounds, fecal samples, and skin biopsies. Scientists also performed a new procedure at this capture using ultrasound to look at the manatee’s heart. In order to help identify the different animals, a passive integrated transponder, or PIT tag, is inserted in the manatee’s shoulder. This is the same technology used to microchip dogs and cats to help easily reunite a lost pet with its owner. Each PIT tag has a specific code, which can be read by a scanner. This helps scientists determine if this manatee has been assessed before and which specific manatee this is. By capturing and testing a select few wild manatees, scientists are able to create a generalized picture of the health of manatees in Kings Bay.

Once we arrived at the assessment location on the beach, everyone went right to work setting up tents and tables, unpacking medical supplies, and removing large rocks from the beach so as not to harm the manatees (or the scientists) when bringing the manatees onto the beach. Just around the corner, there was an even smaller beach where the actual captures were to take place.

At the health assessment, Courtney meets Tomas Diagne. Tomas is a West African manatee biologist, and last year, Save the Manatee Club worked with him to help rescue trapped manatees in Senegal. (Photo by Ariside Kamla.)

On my first day, I was stationed on a near-by bridge (Three Sisters Bridge) to help spot manatees heading toward the capture boat. After the manatee was spotted by us and by the spotting boat, the capture boat headed out, with the weighted net trailing in the water behind it to encircle the manatee. After the manatee had been successfully caught in the net, everyone worked together to pull the manatee out of the water and onto the beach, where I stationed myself the second day in order to capture the event on camera.

Once on the beach, the manatee was put onto a stretcher, carried to one of the research boats, and taken over to the medical beach. After spending no more than about an hour on the medical beach, the manatee was taken back out into the bay and released. Three manatees were captured on the first day and five on the second day.

Several years down the road, scientists will be able to compare the health of the general manatee population then to the current health of the population, or the health of these specific manatees if they are recaptured, in order to see if their health is improving, declining, or the same. This will help us determine what impact we are having on the manatee and its environment. The health assessments provide an additional mechanism for monitoring the manatee population in this region.

Watch a video of the manatee health assessments shot by Courtney Edwards, Staff Biologist for Save the Manatee Club. Click on the photo above or click here to See the Video Now>>

• See another video from the Manatee Health Assessment
  
  
• Get more information about manatee research at the USGS Sirenia Project and FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute web sites.
  
  
• Take Action to Help Protect Manatees in Crystal River
  
  
• Donate to Save the Manatee Club's Emergency Rescue Fund for manatee rescue, rehabilitation, and release efforts.