Marine Life & Conservation
Free Manatee Materials Available for Florida Boaters & Water Users
The July 4th holiday weekend may be over for another year but the Save the Manatee Club urges resident and visitors to keep manatees in mind every day while enjoying Florida state’s waterways. The Club has a free Boating Safety Packet that provides tips to protect manatees as well as information on regulatory signs and a number for reporting an injured manatee.
Manatees are found in shallow, slow-moving rivers, bays, estuaries, and coastal water ecosystems of the southeastern United States. They can live in fresh, brackish, or salt water. They prefer waters that are about 3 – 7 feet deep. Along the coast, they tend to travel in water that is about 10 – 16 feet deep. Manatees are herbivores, feeding on a large variety of submerged, emergent, and floating plants. They are slow-moving, and usually only swim about 3 – 5 miles per hour. Because they are mammals, they need to surface to breathe air. All of these factors make them vulnerable to boat strikes.
Watercraft-related manatee mortality is the leading identified cause of manatee death in Florida. Manatees can suffer injury and death due to the crushing impact of the hull and/or the slashing of the propellers. Last year in 2016, a record 105 manatees were killed by watercraft in Florida, and many more manatees suffered non-fatal injuries from boat strikes.
The Club offers a number of free public awareness materials to help boaters protect manatees from watercraft collisions. One of these items is a Boating Safety Packet, which contains a weatherproof boat decal with a hotline number for reporting manatee injuries, deaths, or harassment. It also includes a waterproof waterway card that was created in conjunction with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Laminated with a hole in the corner so it can be easily hung and kept on board a vessel, the waterway card features four simple tips to help protect manatees. Because manatees may be difficult to see, photos are provided that show what a manatee’s snout or back looks like when it breaks the surface of the water as well as a photo of a flat swirl on the water’s surface, called a “manatee footprint,” that is created when the manatee swims. The flip side of the card includes examples of regulatory signs posted for manatee protection, along with a description and a demonstration photo of a vessel operating at the speed for each zone. Information on the card is provided in English, French, Spanish, and German, so it is suited for Florida’s many visitors.
Other items that Save the Manatee Club provides free of charge include waterproof banners for boaters and public awareness signs for Florida shoreline property owners. The bright yellow banners read “Please Slow: Manatees Below,” and can be used to warn other boaters if a manatee is spotted while out on a waterway. In addition, free aluminum dock signs with a similar message are available for Florida shoreline property owners.
To get the free Boating Safety Packet, waterproof banner, or waterway sign, please send an email to Save the Manatee Club at education@savethemanatee.org or call toll free 1-800-432-JOIN (5646). Send your mailing address to get the free boating safety packet and waterproof banner. To receive the free waterway sign, please send the address where the sign will be posted and the mailing address, if different.
More Manatee Protection Tips for Boaters can be found on the Club’s website at savethemanatee.org/boatertips. The webpage includes a link to download the free Manatee Alert App for iPhones and iPads, which notifies boaters when they are approaching manatee speed zones and helps facilitate the reporting of injured manatees and manatee harassment. You can also view the Club’s new “Safe Boating Tips to Protect Manatees” video.
After a two-year tour of UK art galleries, community spaces and aquariums, the Shark Trust’s acclaimed Oceanic31 exhibition takes its final bow at the Royal Geographical Society later this month. And the unique collection of artwork, depicting 31 species of oceanic sharks and rays, donated by 31 artists, is now open for bids from art lovers and shark enthusiasts. The online auction, launched today, will close on the 7th December at 8pm (BST). The money raised will support the Shark Trust Oceanics Programme.
People can now bid on 27 of the artworks by visiting this website:
https://superstars-auctions.com/sharktrustauction
It is a chance to own a beautiful piece of original art and to support the Shark Trust. The timing of the auction also means that these would make a very special Christmas gift for any shark-lover.
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- Bigeye Thresher Shark by Janina Rossiter
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- Carcharodon carcharias by Jimmy Higgs
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- Croc VR 2030 by Tom Mead
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- Oceanic Whitetip by ATM
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- Silky Street by ScapaJoe
The diversity of pieces mirrors that of the sharks and rays they represent. You can bid on paintings, digital creations, sculptures, mixed media and more. You can pick your favourite artist or species of shark. Or you can select the perfect artwork to make a statement in your home or office. Whichever you choose, you will be supporting the work to protect these amazing animals.
One of the pieces of art has been selected to be auctioned live by Steve Backshall at the For the Love of Sharks event at the Royal Geographical Society in London on the 29th November. In addition to this, two further pieces will be raffled at this event, giving people a chance to win an incredible piece of shark art. For the Love of Sharks is the Shark Trust’s flagship evening. A night to celebrate sharks. Steve Backshall is the headline speaker at this event that will see other prominent shark advocates join him on stage.
Tickets for the event can be snapped up here:
https://thesharktrust.org.uk/Event/flos24
Those that would like to see the Oceanic 31 exhibition have one final chance. It is being displayed at the Pavilion at the Royal Geographic Society from 26th November until the 7th December. Entry is free.
Find out more here:
https://www.rgs.org/events/upcoming-events/oceanic-31
Paul Cox, Shark Trust CEO, Said “This exhibition has given us the opportunity to reach out to a new audience. And inspire more people with the wonderful sharks and rays on which our Big Shark Pledge campaign is based. We are immensely grateful to the 31 artists who have worked so hard to create these works.”
Bid for your favourite Oceanic 31 artwork here:
https://superstars-auctions.com/sharktrustauction
Banner Image: Smooth Hammerhead by Alicia Hayden
Until 28 November, prizes worth a massive £10,000 – including experiences, products and tuition – feature in a line-up of items that can be won for £5 in an online prize draw to celebrate Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation’s 20th anniversary and help generate crucial funds for the future.
Top of the list of prizes is the chance to spend time with adventurer and wildlife expert Steve Backshall, a workout session with Nat Geo star Aldo Kane, a kayaking trip alongside white-water expert and diver Sal Montgomery and a Zoom call with ‘shark whisperer’ Cristina Zenato.
On top of that, some of the most admired companies in the diving and scuba industry have been quick to support the charity with fabulous prizes that make the £5 ticket price worth more than just a flutter.
Master Liveaboards, BSAC, Midlands Diving Chamber, Go Freediving and Blue Shark Snorkel have all generously donated experience prizes, while celebrated photographer Alex Mustard has donated a print and artists Scott Gleed and Olivier Leger have donated a sculpture and illustration to help boost the fundraising pot.
Fourth Element has donated Ocean Positive gear and LA watch company Nodus has gifted the charity a stunning dive watch. For land lovers, the charity has included a five star London hotel stay at Bankside Hotel plus a family visit to Longleat Safari Park in the roster of prizes.
Campaign director for Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’ve been overwhelmed with support from companies and individuals that we truly admire and who have supported us on our 20 year journey and we’re truly grateful to them all. While we feel incredibly proud of our achievements over the past two decades – and we are super excited about the next chapter – this prize draw isn’t a vanity project. It represents a real lifeline to our work and important advancements in the global protection of sharks. So we hope divers, dive clubs and even bargain hunters grab some tickets to make this a massive success.”
The charity hopes that the prize draw will generate crucial funds to launch a brand new, ground-breaking, campaign to enrol the public and increase support for the protection of sharks around the world.
To enter the competition visit www.bite-back.com/prizedraw. The prize winners will be announced on 1 December 2024.
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