Opinion-Editorial
For Immediate Release: August 17, 2009

As an organization, we have never advocated for an end to Crystal River’s “swimming with manatees” programs and understand the value of tourism to the local economy.  However, we are committed to stopping manatee harassment that we believe is occurring in Crystal River, and are adamantly opposed to any human behavior that threatens to compromise manatee health or safety.

The first rule of ecotourism is: never promise too much.  Trying to guarantee customers a specific experience when they are dealing with wild animals is an unnecessary mistake.  The pressure to deliver can lead to bad decision-making and behavior that is dangerous for the customers and for wildlife.  While many operators clearly understand this important fact, at least some tour operators in Crystal River seem to ignore it, possibly with dire future consequences that could threaten the existence of the swim-with programs themselves.

When people try to touch or pursue manatees, they can alter their behavior, even causing them to leave a warm water area, which can be fatal.  Human interactions, which include touching, riding, poking, chasing, feeding, or giving water to manatees can make them more tame and encourage them to approach humans, which further alters their behavior.  Additionally, such interactions can lead to inadvertent separation of mother manatees and their calves, which can lead to a calf’s death if the two are not quickly reunited.  The effects of harassment on manatee health and well-being may at times be subtle, but that doesn’t make the cumulative effect of these interactions any less severe.  Furthermore, the problem is magnified by the sheer number of annual visitors (upwards of 100,000) that come to Crystal River to view manatees.

Promising an encounter with a wild animal is bad policy, and promotes a petting zoo mentality where the success of the encounter is measured by, “Did everyone get to touch one?”  There is so much more that visitors to Crystal River could take away from their experiences if they were instructed to observe manatees at a respectable distance and watch them feed, rest, travel, or otherwise just be manatees.  These manatees and the aquatic habitat in which they live have so much to teach all of us about the beauty of nature and the importance of respecting the environment.  If we really want Crystal River’s visitors to become stewards of the manatees, then tour operators need to offer their customers the unique opportunity to view wild manatees exhibiting natural behaviors in their habitat.  It is from these passive observations of natural behavior that tourists will gain the most appreciation and respect for manatees, which should be the ultimate goal of any tour operator.

Our organization believes that improvements must be made to the tourism industry and we do believe that a “no touch” policy is needed to increase the quality of manatee encounters and better protect manatees.  We urge all interested parties to work together to stop manatee harassment before the courts weigh in and force an end to all in-water manatee encounters in Crystal River. 

Read more about our position, and additional recommendations. 

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