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There is quite the politically charged environment down in Crystal River Florida with the tour operators on one side and Savethemanatee.org and other groups on the other.
I have often wondered what the impact to the endangered manatees behavior is from all this human interaction. How does this stuff happen? Isn't there law enforcement?
The Mrs and I did a Manatee tour and the operation we went with where very knowledgeable and watchful. The Capt was actually an off duty sheriff, he had some words with another operator that anchored next to us.
It is sad to see that type of human behavior. They are such wonderful animals and will come and play with you if they see your not a threat. I think the Mother and Calf we where with had more fun than we did. The mother actually left the calf alone with us for 30 minutes or so and then came back and they both disapeared (when the second boat came).
Wow that is pathetic. We did a Crystal River thing but it was not a guided tour. We just went up to three sister's spring and swam with the manatee's. When we were with them they seemed to enjoy the interaction and it was all "manatee initiated." The little guys were really fun and playful. Sad that people take it to this level.
I support the savethemanatee club through their manatee adoption program. My girl friend and I really love those guys, I wish people would either enjoy their company responsibly or leave them the heck alone.
I went with an operation that I would highly recommend...we were told just to swim around and the manatees will come up to you.
For over an hour and a half I was surrounded by several manatees that just wanted to chew on my arms, face, hair, whatever they could clamp their flippers around. They would just hang in midwater and watch as I played with one, looking at me as if to say "come play with me". Then they would roll over and want their bellies scratched.
It was an awesome experience and I found the operation that I went with to be superb. I couldn't get the smile off my face for an hour and a half.
Very interesting. I bet these "guides" were trying to ensure that the flotilla of kids got a "real" experience. Sadly, I've seen events like this before with kids involved. Rather than teaching the kids respect, patience with how things really occur...these knuckleheads taught them the exact opposite.
I hope they appreciated their well earned booze money...because they obviously don't give a damn about the animals that gave them a chance to earn their measly bucks.
The operator in the first entry video is American Pro Dive Center in Crystal River. Although that video clearly shows harassment, most operators are very good at manipulating manatees so it is not so obvious. Too many of them talk a good game and do the opposite.
When injured manatees are guided to nets for capture, they are held behind the flipper which is where the teat is. Once held here, the manatee is easily directed. I have plenty of footage that show guides holding them here and directing the manatee back into a group of people so they can film them for their video sales. Consider this - a guide has been in the water with manatees hundreds of times and knows what they feel like. There can be no reason for a guide to be touching a manatee except to manipulate or habituate that animal.
Manatees rarely aggressively avoid contact once they are surrounded. They tend to freeze but will pull their flippers in or roll over in an effort to avoid contact. All too often, people think the manatee is rolling over for a scratch. No doubt that there are habituated manatees that seek out interaction. However, manatees need to be in the warm spring area for survival, even those who do not want the interaction are often subjected to the harassment because they can not leave the warmer water without risking cold water stress or death.
What many tourists think might be a manatee initiated encounter is really guide-based manipulation of the animal.
Watch this video clip as an example. Because manatee encounters are by their nature "slow motion events", the guide does several things, that to unaware tourists, seem harmless.
1. Gets in front of manatee to block movement toward sanctuary.
2. Places himself between the manatee and the sanctuary area
3. He then guides the manatee behind flipper towards his clients and away from sanctuary. Like anything neutrally bouyant, it is easy to do.
4. Starts filming the "manatee initiated encounter"
Would you have noticed this if you were in the water and didn't know what to look for?
Ive done the manatee snorkel about 4 or 5 times. The charter boat i went with told us that if we just floated that manatees would come up to us. I never saw a reason to chase a manatee because we always went with a small group of people and they would always seem to find an area that had 5 to 10 manatee swimming around.
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