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To tag 10 manatees, scientists expect a ton of work

A team hopes to put trackers on at least 10 of the big mammals swimming around TECO's Big Bend Power Station.

By RICK GERSHMAN
Published January 2, 2006

TAMPA - Think pinning the tail on the donkey is a challenge?

Try pinning the tracker on the tail of the manatee.

Sure, the team of marine biologists congregating Thursday and Friday in Apollo Beach won't be wearing blindfolds, but they have their work cut out.

Hauling a 1,000-pound sea cow out of Tampa Bay using nothing but a net and elbow grease is enough to destroy the wimpy scientist stereotype.

"It's pretty much just eight people pulling it out," explained Jeremy Lake, spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg. "It's backbreaking work."

The institute, run by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, uses Global Positioning System tags to track manatees' movements and behavior patterns.

Biologists also will be performing health assessments on the manatees they capture near the TECO Big Bend Power Station.

The marine mammals tend to congregate around power plants during cooler seasons because the treated water discharged by the stations warms the aquatic environment.

So many manatees enjoy the waters around Big Bend's plant in southern Hillsborough County that it has its own manatee viewing center.

Researchers hope to capture and release up to 10 manatees over the two days. The program is part of a study that aims to help explain manatees' use of industrial warm water sources and their winter feeding behaviors.

The data should help biologists develop management strategies to maintain a reliable network of warm water sites for manatees, which eat about 10 percent of their body weight in sea grasses every day.

Capturing the manatees, some of which can weigh more than 2,000 pounds, requires the coordination of about 30 team members, several boats and even a spotter plane to identify manatees from the air.

Ultimately each manatee is netted and pulled aboard a 24-foot mullet skiff that's been adapted and specially commissioned for manatee capture.

The boat takes the manatee to shore, where it goes through a medical examination that can include blood and skin samples.

If the manatee is female and lactating, scientists also take breast milk samples.

Scientists add a belt to the manatee's tail, which has the tracker at the end of a 6-foot-long cord. The cord is designed so it will break free if it gets tangled, said Lake, the institute's spokesman.

The belt is designed so it eventually will dissolve, freeing the manatee from the tracker.

The manatees could be endangered "if the power plant were to close down permanently, or if those grass beds are destroyed or moved out," Lake said.

"We want to make sure that these animals are around for the long term, and to be able to protect them long term we need to know what their behaviors are."

--Rick Gershman can be reached at rgershman@sptimes.com or 813 226-3431.

[Last modified January 2, 2006, 02:30:25]