Aardvark’s Kayaking And Self Defense Blog

So now we have an number of manatees estimated to be around 90 but, according to the Citrus County Tourism Office: “In the Summer months, as many as 230 have been seen on a single day” in Kings Bay.” These manatees no longer migrate. Could it be that these animals have been habituated to humans and that this is the reason for the aberrant non-migratory behavior? Is that not why the FWCC recommends to look but don’t touch and the USFWS says to practice passive observation? NOTE TO META: PASSIVE OBSERVATION AND PASSIVE INTERACTION ARE NOT THE SAME THING!!!

Now boaters don’t want to slow down to protect our tamed manatees. While I don’t agree, I do understand their frustration. It appears from comments in the chronicle that boaters don’t believe there are any manatees in the Bay during the warmer months. It kind of hard to see them if you don’t look.

Here’s some data from last June and July. It was provided as part of the public comments on the proposed rule.

No more free passes. Don’t expect me to sit back and listen to this gibberish anymore. I was hoping that the formation of META would bring a higher standard and more professionalism to the industry but I was wrong. I have recently found that guides who work under an owner’s Special Use Permit often have no idea what is in the permit and that it has conditions. You all really need to read those things.

Here’s the latest from our friends in the manatee fondling business. “Manatees Hate Kayaks”. Interesting since a good portion of them rent cheap kayaks as well as fondle manatees. It seems they think manatees would rather have tourists fondle them or have their young yanked away for a photo op.

Yeah I’m sure they prefer this.

Just so we are clear, the reason boaters are being asked to slow down is because manatees have been tamed and a good chunk of them no longer migrate. So boaters are going to have to suffer because of the poor ethics of the dive community and the lack of will by the USFWS to emphasize/enforce passive observation. Until they do, the PEER lawsuit still threatens the industry. The refuge use permit requires that operators promote passive observation. The Manatee Eco Tour Association (META) instead promotes “passive interaction“. That means telling tourists it is ok to rub their belly as long as you don’t chase them down to do it. In case you don’t know what that means, a male manatee’s genitals are located just behind the belly button and the female’s are a bit farther back. Either way, if you a giving a manatee a good ol’ belly scratch think about what you are doing. Your dive master is laughing his a.. off. Why? Because it makes them money. The chief of META has put out numbers that indicate if they couldn’t sell the interaction and had to go with just observation they estimate they’d lose 30% of their revenue.

Petting a manatee is doing nothing for the manatee. It just amuses the humans. Any animal can react one of three ways to human stimulus whether it be food, water, or touch. Feeding and watering is specifically addressed in federal law and is banned. Petting is nothing more than providing a different stimulus. An animal that reacts positively by moving to the stimulus is in danger of ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s why the law is in place. In the case of manatees wanting to interact with humans, it is interfering with their migration. Think Kings Bay in the summer.

As for manatees not liking kayaks. No touch produces this:

and this:

and this: