Boating is...Manatees and Red Tide?

Boating and the Manatees!

by boatguy Ed

Manatees and the Red Tide that is killing them were featured on CBS evening news (3/29/13) tonight. Everyone agrees that they suffer because of infection and pneumonia brought on by 'Red Tide' toxin. A boat strike, horrible as it is, is often survivable for healthy Manatees

No one wants to see them suffer and die, except maybe 'Boat Salesman Clyde' who is a member of the 'Dead End Canal Yacht Club.'

"I'm a realist," Clyde says when he speaks about Manatees, "they aren't native like snowbirds except they show up as the water warms and should leave when the waters cool." But they don't because we, their nemesis, have warmed the water near the power plants. They try to 'winter' in the shadow of the warm water spewing power plants instead of migrating south.

"They used to be tough sun of a bucks but since they now live in cold water and eat mangrove leaves instead of nutrient rich sea-grass, they've turned into sissies," says 'Cap'n Crunch' who's been cited for excessive speed through Manatee Slow Zones, twice. His argument about their non-native-ness didn't convince either judge.

Not to defend his action in any way, I must point out that their proper name is West Indian Sea Cow. They don't need a passport to migrate to SWFL but they should NOT be encouraged to stay where the environment is dangerous.

"When the Caloosahatche River power plant switched from bunker oil to natural gas to gas, the cooling water was much cooler so some of the Manatees left. The Manatees who were conditioned by the warm water and some well intentioned individuals and groups convinced the power plant to heat, that's right heat, the discharged water so the Manatees would be warmer and not leave their unnatural habitat," said 'Cap'n Crunch' with foam on the corners of his mouth. "Red Tide isn't killing them, we are!"

“Actually, starvation does the most damage to overcrowded pools of manatees like at the Fort Myers Manatee park,” interjected Boston Bob our resident tree-hugger because he is a sailboater. “Manatees eat a variety of grasses and the river grass is plenty for a few. A hundred or more will strip any place bare in no time. The starving manatees move further and further into cold water just to eat.”

Many years a ago there was an attraction on the Orange River near I 75. It was called Manatee Tours and they also rented small pontoons boats. Our Boating Show was shooting a segment about manatees and we used one of the small pontoons to try and see some of them swimming. The Orange River is so dark that seeing manatees beyond their snouts was impossible.

We were about to give up when something 'bumped the boat'. “Maybe it was a drifting log,” Bob the Cameraman said. He was wrong because the bumping continued. We could see several small snouts protruding from the water after each bump and quickly realized the manatees had come to dinner. When we returned to the dock I asked the dock hands if they were feeding the manatees. “No, that's illegal,” they all said. And it sure is.

A little investigation discovered that some unnamed people were paying for the waste vegetable cuttings from local supermarkets. Why, I don't know. I don't know why we can't feed them, either. If we enable them to stay in harm's way shouldn't we feed them.

“They're tasty,” said 'Boat Salesman Clyde' referring to the manatee BBQ statuette that he keeps on his desk. “I'm just kidding of course but they cause boaters us boater of grief.”

All boaters have a love hate relationship with the West Indian Manatee IE Sea Cows. They're cute and harmless but inconvenient at the same time. And Red Tide hurts us all although I don't know of any boaters dying. Maybe that's because we can opt out of the Red Tide pool.

Boatguy Ed (boatguiEd@aol.com or boatguyEd@gmail.com) is a manufacturer of the worlds BEST anti-fouling bottom paint, www.supershipbottom.com and a past Commodore of the 'Dead End Canal Yacht Club' . NEVER, EVER TRY TO BUY HIM A DRINK!

This blog is meant for educational purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Void where prohibited. Some assembly required. Do not read while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment.

Please return for more discussions on Manatees and a broad spector about boating by the cranky members of the DECYC