Manatee Abuse and Harassment Caught on Tape

[aardvark200304]

I found this post on the manateewatching yahoo group. I'd like to know how everybody views the behavior by the guide?

"April first. Today the manatee sanctuaries go away. Today the
tour boats enter the sanctuary areas that the manatees have come to
know as their safe havens. We noticed a badly scarred manatee in
shallow water lying on her side and only moving to breathe. We
watched her and her calf from Shatz island. I was filming them from
the shoreline when I heard a tour guide talking to his group as the
boat approached us and the manatees. This is what I heard..."Guys,
in their little___(?) ___is a very sensitive gland. Just like their closest
cousin the elephant, in the armpit... that's where manatees are gonna
nurse and feed their young. That's by far the best place to pet and
scratch. ...Where a lot of the newer skin is gonna grow and develop
from, you may even feel it when you pet their back. May be a little
harder, but if you reach into that armpit, you're gonna feel softer
skin down there. That's the place you make friends. You gotta go
for that armpit. Now the sides of the manatee and the manatee's
back, they're great places to pet and scratch but what was it that
you guys say?... stomach and the belly. Guys, that's amazing on the
stomach and the belly. However, keep in mind that these are wild
animals. What usually happens when you approach a wild animal, what
does the animal usually do? They run away, don't they? They don't
wanna be around people. However, manatees are very very special
animals and if we're nice and calm in the water, we'll have a good
chance of having manatees wanna hang around us." He then pointed out
the cow with her calf ..."

 

[alyth]

your post is actually making me dread what sort of trip I will be going on in Crystal River - I'm flying into Orlando tomorrow and driving north on Saturday and have booked two trips, and know that if there is any harrassment at all I will not get in the water and I will report the tour company. But I know that if I do get in the water it will be once only, as I will have done what I wanted to do despite having such mixed emotions about it.

 

[hilishadjo]

Alyth, please tell us about your experience when your back and comfortable.

 

[alyth]

Well, I'm back, it's a long way to Florida from Scotland so I'm a little tired after an overnight flight from Newark! However, here is my Crystal River experience!

My immediate first impression is that the area has gone downhill - admittedly it's 8 years since I'd been there, but there wasn't so much manatee information/publicity, and with hindsight there's far too many groups advertising manatee trips from the searches I made - in fact, the company with whom I booked the second tour I could neither find nor contact in the States!

The first tour guy was extremely inexperienced, he's been doing the job for 6 months but struggled to convey much manatee knowledge and the boat was wayyyy too full - at least 15 people on it, including 2 very small (under 2) children, who of course couldn't be quietened down. There were no manatees in Crystal River last Sunday - we cruised around for at least 2 hours searching, the people on the boat were getting agitated whilst I was happy just to see the scenery. The radio crackled into life about 10am and give the location of two manatees. When we got there there were 3 dive boats and at least 30 people in the water. In absolute fairness to our guide, he said there were two many people for 2 manatees and refused to anchor - I'm so grateful to him for that. I saw one manatee rise for air twice and that was all - so I'm glad I didn't have to make the decision as to whether to swim or not.

Whilst sitting in the water a fourth tour company sped across the water to where the manatees were, dropped anchor and the people promptly splashed into the water shouting!

The second company we could neither find in Crystal River nor contact by phone despite having spoken to someone there from Scotland before I left for Florida, so I could only leave a message saying we would not be going on the trip.

The first guy was up front about the fact that none of the boats are regulated, and admitted that if he saw a tour company harrasing a manatee he would not report it. In fairness we were out of season, and it was 85 degrees the manatees were out of Crystal River, and whilst I'm glad I didn't swim I'm saddened by the experience and the amount of people snorkling on one morning. The tour guy said he had heard that swimming with manatees may be stopped, and to be honest perhaps it should.

I'm loath to name the tour boats I saw on the river, but I did stop into one dive shop asking for information and found very young guys lounging around unwilling to offer much assistance. As I say I found the area to have changed dramatically since my last experience in Crystal River, however as always the American friendliness made the trip worthwhile from that perspective.

 

[codi_nic]

I wish they could attack! That would teach em'

 

[DixieDolphin]

You know, I find this all very disturbing.

Honestly, I'm surprised these tour boats even exist. It sure seems like it would fit under the MMPA §3 definition of "harassment," although I imagine an official study would be required to show how it would disrupt behavioral patterns before any action against them could be pursued.

I think that, in many cases, a closer first-hand look at the wild can be very beneficial for raising awareness and increasing conservation efforts. However, there need to be checks to ensure that it's not actually damaging the very thing it strives to raise awareness about. It's a shame, but the whole concept of tours just leaves too much room for potential abuse.

Personally, I'm all for stricter enforcement of 'no touch' rules. When I lived near the coast, I saw manatees and dolphins constantly in the IRL from my kayak or from public docks. Never once did I feel it was necessary to touch, feed, or chase them to find inspiration in their presence. But you'd see folks all the time feeding them.. so much that there are several places in Melbourne that they are completely habituated to--they just hang out by the boat slips all the time (which could certainly be a dangerous situation!) and wait for lettuce.

I think a fair compromise, without shutting down businesses which people depend on as a livelihood, would be to just increase the distance. No touching, more space for the manatees, smaller tour groups... and perhaps more education for the tour operators, so that faulty information (pet under their armpits, what?!) doesn't get spread. Perhaps requiring licensing / permits. Hmm.

Most of the regulations are already there, but I think there's a startling lack of enforcement for them. Perhaps because these operations are far fewer and smaller in scale than, for example, whale watching tour boats in other parts of the country, they have stayed under the radar for the most part. But perhaps with things like this coming to light, that might begin to shift.

(Pardon me while I get off my soapbox... )

 

[Goindrinkn]

Wow. I am not usually one to be overly moved by stuff like this, but for the last two years the most amazing times have been those spent in the water with the manatee. This is a great eduational video. And with your permission, I'd like to link it to my site. I have had many remarkable manatee initiated expierences, some where I was unclear if I was doing enough to keep my distance. (had one that loved to chew on me one day, and a cow that was rubbing her belly on me and everything else around. - though it was kind of neat as she was with in hours of popping) I'd agree with the others who have made references to outting those captians, (in some cases it isn't the outfitters as much as the captains) that need to realize they are hurting more than "our feelings" and the best way to do that is by hitting their wallet. I'm glad that the people that have posted here are out there, and look forward with sharing the paddle, dive, and continued wonderful expierences that Crystal River provides.

jt

 

[saltysupply]

that is sick....companies should be shut down.

 

[Emesge27]

I've been on Scuba Board for quite a while but only recently heard about this thread. I took the time to read through the 13 pages to get a sense of what people were thinking on this subject. It is another case of the minority of bad operators/tourists ruining it for everyone else, including the manatees! I've been going to Crystal River for many years and loved it so much we even purchased a vacation/retirement home off one of the canals near Kings Spring, one of the key wintering spots of Manatees. We've been out with just about every operator and a number of years ago determined that Bird's Underwater was the shop to use for all our water touring and diving needs. They have consistently over the years provided the most professional services and most responsible. I would guess they also have the lowest turnover of staff - most of them I would say have been there at least 10 years? I have had problems with American Pro and the tour operator at Plantation Inn. When I registered a complaint about other snorkelers, I was pretty much told to buzz off. The guys at Plantation didn't even make the group watch the required manatee manners video!

One poster mentioned that things had gone downhill in general in Crystal River. This points to a greater problem in general throughout Florida that communities are just coming to grips with - rapid over development. If the sub-prime market crash has a sunny side it is that it has halted expansion and made it economically feasible for the community to purchase the land surrounding Three Sisters Spring that would have been turned into hundreds of condos. The economic downturn has halted several other 'iffy' developments as well.

To say tour operators, enforcing 'no touch' or to point to any one thing as the key problem is too simplistic. There's still the problem of too many boats, most of them going far too fast, on King's Bay. There's still the problem of over use of fertilizers making the bay nutrient rich and causing huge blooms of lyngbya that results in the killing of the aquatic plants on which manatees feed. I personally am trying to put more effort into land preservation issues, increasing the presence of fisheries and wildlife enforcement on the Bay and monitoring our own behaviors with our boat and house to prevent pollution. We use and recommend Bird's Underwater exclusively (honestly, I don't work for them in any capacity) and donate to Friends of Chaz and to the Three Sisters Fund.

As an aside, I've been a SCUBA diver for nearly 20 years. I am personally opposed to hand feeding sharks so I don't patronize the companies that do it (as I always say, there's a reason you don't feed bears in the national parks, too). HOWEVER, I do not think that those operations are so detrimental that they require my time and energy to shut them down when there are way more important shark issues to address - illegal finning perhaps top of the list. I use this example only to address the issue of priorities and suggest that there are many far more important issues that need immediate attention if we want to safeguard our manatee population.

 

[deepstops]

Wow, that's a great first post.