FWD: Mind the manatees

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This article is from The Star Online

URL:

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2003/11/4/features/6380985 & sec=f\

eatures

 

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Tuesday November 4, 2003

Mind the manatees

By MITCH STACY

 

Florida researchers are seeking ways to keep boats and manatees apart, writes

MITCH STACY.

 

THE bulbous, gray bodies of the nine female manatees living in captivity bear

the ugly white scars of encounters with speeding boats in the wild.

 

Now these slow-moving, gentle sea cows that regularly charm visitors at the

Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park are helping University of Florida

researchers develop technology that will warn boaters when manatees are in the

water around them.

 

Veterinarian Deke Beusse is experimenting with underwater microphones and

speakers in the spring to determine how manatees react to various sounds,

including recordings of their own high-pitched squeaks and chirps.

 

The animals & #8217; own voices, played back through an underwater speaker, have

prompted a chorus of vocalisations from the Homosassa Springs manatees. Beusse

is hopeful that the recordings can be used to elicit sounds from manatees in the

wild so their locations can be pinpointed and boaters in the area can be warned

with a blinking light or radio signal.

 

“Is it going to work 100% of the time?” Beusse asked. “No, but it will be a

heck of a lot better than it is now.”

 

Along with several other projects in the works around the country, the research

at Florida seeks a practical way to keep boats a safe distance from manatees

without so many of the permanent slow-speed zones that boaters hate and wildlife

advocates say are necessary.

 

Boat encounters killed a record 95 manatees in Florida last year. Although the

manatee population has increased in recent years, there are only about 3,000

left in Florida waters.

 

Research has been conducted on manatee vocalisations in the past, but this is

believed to be the first time scientists have attempted to study the effects of

broadcasting sound to them.

 

Beusse is working with Florida engineering professor Chris Niezrecki and

graduate student Richard Phillips, who have the equipment and know-how to record

and broadcast the manatee sounds.

 

Niezrecki was in the 22°C water on a recent trip to the spring, clad in a

wetsuit, mask, and snorkel, moving the microphone and speaker to different spots

in the spring while Phillips manned the sound equipment and laptop computer on

the shore.

 

They are still experimenting with sounds of varying frequencies, but so far

nothing has made the manatees react as dramatically as their own recorded

noises. Their own voices played under water caused them to sound off twice as

often as normal as they swarmed around the yellow, dinner plate-sized speaker on

the floor of the spring.

 

“How they find it is amazing,” said Beusse, who was a veterinarian at

Orlando & #8217;s SeaWorld for more than three decades. “The sound travels so fast

under water that you don & #8217;t know where it & #8217;s coming from.”

 

The next phase of the project will involve testing in a large area in the

Indian River on Florida & #8217;s east coast to determine how far away manatees

can detect the sounds and still recognise them as their own.

 

After that, the team will work on the technical aspects of warning boaters with

beacons on the surface or via a message on a designated radio channel.

 

Nancy Sadusky, spokeswoman for the Maitland-based Save the Manatee Club, said

advocates welcome any technological advances that can save the animals & #8217;

lives. But slow-speed zones for boats will likely never go away.

 

“We believe that nothing is a panacea when it is used alone,” she said. “Any

method that is developed is going to have to be used as a comprehensive package

to protect manatees. That would include slow-speed zones, enforcement,

education, and habitat protection.”

 

Ryck Lydecker, a vice president of the Boat Owners Association of the United

States, envisions using the technology to establish “smart speed zones,” similar

to school zones on the street, where lower speeds are required only when a

beacon is flashing.

 

“I think it & #8217;s really encouraging for everybody,” Lydecker said of the

research. “It & #8217;s the first sort of light we & #8217;ve seen at the end of the

tunnel.”

 

Other efforts to keep a safe distance between manatees and boats are also under

way around the country. For instance, researchers in San Diego are using

SeaWorld & #8217;s Manatee Rescue exhibit to develop a sonar buoy or platform that

can detect the animals, with a light or signal on the buoy warning boaters to

use caution.

 

Wade Hopping, a spokesman for the Marine Industry Association in Florida, said

boaters are pleased with research that could lead to at least some of the

slow-speed zones being eased. “In some congested, crowded places, speed zones

make sense,” Hopping said. “But they & #8217;re not the be-all and end-all.”

& #8211; AP<p>

 

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