Manatee Watch volunteers: guardians to the mammals

A couple who volunteer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's program kindly but firmly advise the people who come out to see the manatees in the refuge.

By LOGAN NEILL

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 12, 2001

HOMOSASSA -- Jim Meister has bundled up tightly for his morning excursion down the Homosassa River. As he paddles his 16-foot canoe into the headwaters region known as Blue Waters, a gentle, yet biting, cold breeze whips at his face.

However, 4 feet beneath him, where about 70 manatees have gathered, it is a different world. The reflection of the sunlight pinpoints where each one has nestled in the warm, constant blanket of 72-degree water that is their haven.

"It's always a wonderful sight to me," said Meister, peering over the side of his craft. "People can't help but be impressed when they see them."

That is why Meister and his wife, Karen, make this silent trek three times each week to the pristine habitat. Over the years, it has become one of area's most popular spots for people wishing to get an up-close-and-personal look at some of the rarest creatures on the planet.

It is also the reason why the Meisters devote two or three mornings a week as volunteers for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Manatee Watch program. Their mission: to monitor manatee-human interaction and to try to educate the land-living visitors when they've overstepped the boundaries of appropriate behavior.

Things are fairly quiet on this day. The cold front that brought subfreezing temperatures the night before has kept all but the hardiest of manatee watchers away. Still, a few souls, most of whom have arrived in dive shop party boats, have donned wetsuits, snorkels and masks in the shallow shoal not far from the Homosassa Springs State Park.

Meister watches closely as a teenage boy attempts to lure one of the lumbering animals toward him. Finally, he offers the young man a friendly bit of advice.

"If you stand still, they should come right to you, if they're up for it," Meister said in an easygoing tone. "You really aren't supposed to pursue them."

Although most underwater encounters between people and manatees are respectful in nature, Meister fears that the crush of attention the mammals get when they gather at the Blue Waters refuge makes for a stressful situation for them.

"They have to come here because they're trying to escape the cold," Meister said. "And a lot of them swim pretty far, so once they get here, they're pretty tired. People come along and want to swim with them, but they may not understand that manatees need to rest, too."

The concern is just one of many among the Meisters and their fellow Manatee Watch volunteers, who have regularly patroled the area in recent years. Increased powerboat traffic, coupled with the heightened volume of divers brought in by commercial dive shops, have increased the threat of manatee harassment.

"I've counted as many as 100 people either in the water or about to go in," Meister said. "It makes it a little tough for manatees to escape attention."

And although things have gotten a little better recently, Meister believes that without the constant supervision, there could easily be a repeat of an incident he saw a couple of years ago.

"I couldn't believe it," recalls Meister. "We were coming up here, and I could see this woman straddling a manatee like it was a horse, like she was going to ride it down the river."

Meister reported the incident, and the woman was later cited by wildlife officials.

Although Manatee Watch volunteers have a direct connection to Fish and Wildlife, they have no official enforcement power, Meister said.

Although most underwater encounters between people and manatees are respectful in nature, Jim Meister fears that the crush of attention the mammals get when they gather at the Blue Waters refuge makes for a stressful situation for them.

"We don't write tickets, and we can't make arrests," he said. However, they do take down numbers and descriptions of watercraft operators who they suspect may be violating federal and state manatee protection laws.

Perhaps most important, Meister said, Manatee Watch volunteers are trained to offer what he calls "positive peer pressure." They gladly answer questions and hand out literature about the mammals.

"I just try to be nice, never threatening," Meister said. "I figure people are either going to get it or they're not."

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