Cold Weather Results in Record Manatee Count
and Cold-Stressed Manatees
For further information, contact:
Patrick Rose, Aquatic Biologist
Executive Director, Save the Manatee Club
Phone: 407-539-0990
Cell: 850-570-1373
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Katie Tripp, Ph.D.
Dir. of Science & Conservation
Phone: 407-539-0990
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For Immediate Release: January 21, 2010
Save the Manatee Club is asking for waterfront residents, boaters, and other recreational users to be on the look-out for distressed or dead manatees. They expect large numbers of sick and dead manatees as a result of Florida’s very severe record-breaking cold. Many manatees have already been rescued and brought to rehabilitation facilities to recover. The public is asked to call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) hotline at 1-888-404-FWCC (3922) to report cold-stressed manatees who may be in need of rescue.
The FWC recently released preliminary results of a state-wide aerial survey of endangered manatees wherein a new record count of 5,067 manatees was set. The combined survey was conducted during record prolonged cold temperatures in Florida accompanied by calm, clear weather on the days of the survey. While these historically severe weather conditions are ideal for obtaining manatee counts, the endangered mammals cannot tolerate water temperatures lower than 68 degrees F for long periods of time and gather at natural springs or warm-water effluents of power plants in the winter. The enduring cold was exacerbated by the fact that many manatees could not get to sufficiently warm water in time.
“The high count is fantastic news and perhaps a once in a lifetime count due to the prolonged cold spell,” said Patrick Rose, Aquatic Biologist and Executive Director of Save the Manatee Club. “Just as the manatee’s need to stay warm has allowed us to better count them, we must ensure that these warm- water refuge sites remain available in Florida or the population could suffer in catastrophic proportions. We must work to keep the current protections in place and secure the population’s future survival by continuing to protect both individual manatees and their habitat.”
“Ironically,” remarked Rose, “the very weather conditions that brought us such good news about the size of the manatee population, is set to have dramatic fatal consequences for dozens more individual manatees. I want to personally thank all those who are doing everything they can to find and rescue these manatees before they succumb to cold stress. This includes those boaters and citizens who report the sick manatees to the state and federal Fish and Wildlife agencies who work night and day, and the facilities and partners such as Epcot’s Living Seas, Lowry Park Zoo, Miami Seaquarium, SeaWorld, and the University of Florida School of Veterinary Medicine.”
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