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More room to roam for sea cows

An area of the Homosassa River, closed to boats and people, will become an extension of the Blue Waters sanctuaries.

By BARBARA BEHRENDT
Published April 23, 2006

HOMOSASSA - A plan seven years in the making to open a larger protected area in the Homosassa River for endangered manatees will get under way in a few weeks. At the end of March, just as the manatee wintering season was ending and the Blue Waters manatee sanctuaries were reopened to boats and people, a team surveyed the area between the sanctuaries and the Long-River Bridge inside the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.

As early as next month, a barge with a vacuum will move into that zone and suck up the silt, debris and muck that has clogged it. The area is inside the state park and is closed to boats and humans, but manatees don't always use it, either, because it is so shallow.

Winter low tides sometimes leave the water just 2 feet deep there, and manatees can't navigate through that.

State and federal officials hope that a deeper, cleaner river in that zone will provide a natural extension of the formal manatee sanctuaries.

The animals come up into the Blue Waters in the cold weather seeking warmth. That area is close to the main springs beneath the Fishbowl Observatory in the state park. But captive manatees live around the Fishbowl Observatory, so the wild manatees can't get all the way to the bigger springs.

Once the dredging is completed, officials hope more manatees will come all the way up near the bridge, which is the gate that keeps captive animals in and wild manatees out.

The dredging will be funded by the state and the Coastal Rivers Basin Board. According to early estimates, the dredging will remove 25,000 cubic yards of sediment from the water bottom. The waterlogged silt will be pumped onto an overflow parking lot and left to dry. The process is similar to the silt vacuuming done in Kings Bay years ago to clear up the cloudy waters.

While the work is going on in Homosassa, a process that could take 11/2 to two months, Manatee Watch volunteers will observe and make sure there is no risk to any manatee that might wander into the work zone.

"Better safe than sorry," said park manager Art Yerian.

[Last modified April 24, 2006, 18:43:30]