U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Department of the Interior

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Crystal River NWR Complex

1502 SE Kings Bay Dr.

Crystal River, FL 34429

Phone: 352-563-2088

Fax: 352-795-7961

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Release #: CHS 15-04

DATE: March 16, 2015 Contact: Ivan Vicente, 563-2088 x211

Record Statewide and Citrus County Manatee Numbers

On February 20, 2015, staff from the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge assisted FWC as part of the Statewide Synoptic Aerial Manatee Survey. Staff counted a total of 1034 manatees along the survey route, stretching from the Suwannee River in Levy County south to the Weeki Wachee River in Hernando County. Only 9 manatees were seen outside of Citrus County waters, while 1025 were counted within Citrus County waters.

The 1025 manatees counted in Citrus County represent 17% of the entire manatee population in Florida (6,063) during extreme cold spells. The 706 manatees counted in Kings Bay represent nearly 12% of the entire Florida population. “These numbers represent a thriving manatee population, especially in Kings Bay and Citrus County in general”, said Ivan Vicente, Visitor Services Specialist at Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge. “Having 1025 manatees in Citrus County is a success story attributed to the collective conservation efforts in the County. These efforts range from manatee sanctuaries to restricted speed zones, and increased community awareness and advocacy towards the conservation of this magnificent species and its connection to our numerous springs”, added Vicente.

“The Kings Bay community (including the tour operators, volunteers, community residents and conservation Agencies), are collectively doing a remarkable job to help manatees overcome these cold weather events in sensitive areas such as Three Sisters Springs”, added Vicente. Three Sisters Springs was temporarily closed to in-water access for a total of 15 days since manatee season began in November, last year. “The local community played a key role in supporting the closure days, despite the few discrepancies during this learning process”, added Vicente. There have been as many as 528 manatees recorded inside Three Sisters Springs on a cold day during a high tide, according to the recent research conducted during December and January.

Given that manatees practice site fidelity during the winter months, it is likely that these high manatee numbers may be witnessed again next winter season. “Now we know how many manatees are using the springs during manatee season, and it is essential to provide continued protection to manatees, especially in the most sensitive small areas, such as Three Sisters Springs.” Additionally, the ratio of calves to adults found in Kings Bay is 1:5, compared to other areas, such as the Blue Waters where it is only 1:10. “This means that Kings Bay is a very safe place for mothers to protect their calves from the cold by bringing them to optimal resting areas, such as Three Sisters Springs”, added Vicente.

The USFWS is in the process of developing new reasonable solutions to the over-crowding issues at Three Sisters Springs for next manatee season. A new Environmental Assessment for in-water access at Three Sisters Springs is underway and the USFWS intends to involve the community in this process. More manatees are using Three Sisters Springs each winter, while increasing numbers of in-water visitors choose to witness this phenomenon. “The USFWS feels confident that it is possible to develop comprehensive, sustainable wildlife viewing culture/experience in accordance with the National Wildlife Refuge Administration Act. Our staff will do what is necessary to continue allowing in-water recreation, as long as we can guarantee that the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act aren’t compromised”, added Vicente.

The exact counts from February 20, 2015 in Citrus County were as follows:

King’s Bay: 586 + 120 calves = 706

Crystal River: 0 = 0

Salt River: 0 = 0

Power Plant Discharge Canal: 3 = 3

Cross Florida Barge Canal: 0 = 0

Homosassa River (Blue Waters): 237 + 20 calves = 257

Halls River 8 + 3 calves = 11

Lower Homosassa River: 1 = 1

Chassahowitzka River: 34 + 4 calves = 38

Mud River 3 + 1 calf = 4

Jenkins Creek 2 = 2

Weeki Wachee River 3 = 3

Total: 877 + 148 calves = 1025

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 150-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses more than 561 national wildlife refuges and 38 wetland management districts. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to State fish and wildlife agencies.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-manatee-count-florida-20150316-story.html

A VERY controversial issue – one of our owner’s is interviewed by this Tampa Bay newspaper:
https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/environmental-group-wants-to-stop-people-from-swimming-with-the-manatees/2220616

We are asking all of our clients to use their voices or you will loose your rights to swim with manatees. Write Governor Scott of Florida or no one will swim with manatees in the future.

https://us-mg5.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=dqsqpgbhjehmd#9141681751

NEWS RELEASE

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Department of the Interior

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Crystal River NWR Complex

1502 SE Kings Bay Dr.

Crystal River, FL 34429

Phone: 352-563-2088

Fax: 352-795-7961

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Release #:

DATE: March 2, 2015 Contact: Ivan Vicente, 563-2088, x211

NEW RESTRICTIONS AT THREE SISTERS SPRINGS IMPLEMENTED TODAY

After having published its Final Environmental Assessment (“Manatee Wildlife Viewing on Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, Three Sisters Springs) the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will further increase manatee protection and improve the in-water visitor experience at Three Sisters Springs by implementing several new measures under the approved Environmental Assessment, today.

The immediate measures to be implemented today are listed:

1) Closure of two lobes of the springs (western lobe and eastern lobe) excluding all public entry and recreational uses in those two areas via the installation of underwater exclusion markers.

2) Require a Special Use Permit for the use of any type of flash photography inside the warm water springs at Three Sisters Springs. Special Use Permits for diffused flash photography will only be issued for educational or research purposes.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will not exclude non-motorized vessels until it confirms the support of the Crystal River City Council on the implementation of this measure.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 150-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses more than 560 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to State fish and wildlife agencies.

EFFECTIVE TOMORROW MORNING, THE US FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE WILL BEGIN MONITORING SUP COMMERCIAL GUIDED ACTIVITIES INSIDE THREE SISTERS SPRINGS. NOW THAT THE MEASURES UNDER THE THREE SISTERS SPRINGS ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT ARE BEING IMPLEMENTED, STAFF FROM US FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE WILL BEGIN MONITORING AND DOCUMENTING ALL SUP COMMERCIALLY GUIDED SNORKELING TOURS INSIDE THE SPRINGS. TOUR GUIDES OR OPERATORS/CAPTAINS ARE NOW EXPECTED TO ACCOMPANY THEIR CUSTOMERS WHEN THEY SNORKEL/SWIM INSIDE THREE SISTERS SPRINGS.

THE LOBE CLOSURES ARE ALREADY IN PLACE AS OF TODAY, MARKED WITH UNDERWATER MARKERS (CHAIN AND WHITE/ORANGE MARKERS)

ALL SWIMMERS AND PADDLERS MUST STAY OUT OF THESE LOBES AT ALL TIMES DURING THE REMAINDER OF THIS MANATEE SEASON.

IN ADDITION, ALL CUSTOMERS AND GUIDES CONDUCTING UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY MUST TURN THEIR FLASH OFF WHEN USING ANY CAMERA FOR ANY UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY AND/OR FILMING PURPOSES.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/federal-wildlife-officials-adopt-permanent-protection-measures-for-three/2219312

A small herd of manatees caught in a Satellite Beach, Fla., storm drain weren’t found by passers-by, but a state wildlife agent who said she had a “hunch” that the balmy spot might have drawn in and trapped the lumbering sea cows.

The 19 sweet-natured beasts, including several super-cute calves, were rescued with the careful maneuvering of heavy machinery, makeshift slings, even a fire ladder truck.

Seeking respite from a series of cold fronts battering the Sunshine State, the animals had wandered together into the storm drain from an Indian River lagoon but couldn’t turn around, said Ann Spellman, the marine biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who oversaw the rescue.

Recommended: Are you scientifically literate? Take our quiz

Footage of the rescue showed onlookers cheering as rescuers slipped a calf into a nearby canal. The footage also showed rescuers petting other manatees as they were hoisted out of the culvert and inspected for injuries.

Ms. Spellman’s spot-on hunch, in a small way, underscores a chilly trend in the South.

The Brevard County manatee rescue came just four years after a severe cold snap killed hundreds of manatees, not to mention millions of fish. Hundreds of cold-stunned sea turtles were also rescued during that cold snap – most were rehabilitated, but many also perished.

Though that was an extreme event, similar winter weather events have become more usual than unusual as the US East Coast, including the South, endures what has now become a string of harsher-than-normal winters. From the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, temperatures in the past few days have hovered between 25 to 45 degrees below normal across the region.

“Especially this month, the temperature anomalies are way below average across a big part of the central to eastern United States,” National Weather Service forecaster Bob Oravec told LiveScience.com.

That stubborn predicament means Georgia is for the first time pre-treating roads ahead of storms, Alabama has started an annual tax-free holiday on winter survival gear, and citizen volunteers and Florida wildlife agents, including Ms. Spellman, are doubling down to make sure exposed and stressed warm-weather animals have at a shot at survival.

Biologists spotted four manatees in the pipe on Saturday, but Spellman wasn’t satisfied with assurances on Monday that the animals had probably been able to escape. Indeed, upon inspection, she found six animals near the entrance of the storm drain. Rescuers then located another 13 animals stuck several hundred yards deeper into the pipe.

That discovery forced rescuers to remove parts of a road and cut into a steel culvert to reach the manatees and hoist them out.

“Our biologists said it took a village and an Air Force base” to get the animals out, says Brandon Basino, a spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, in St. Petersburg, Fla.

He said rescue groups included Satellite Beach fire and police departments, state biologists, Sea World, a group of divers called Black Water Divers, and airmen from nearby Patrick Air Force Base. Rescuers used backhoes and even a ladder truck to extract animals that can weigh up to 1,200 pounds.

“Our managing biologists are always proactive, and they’ve been working the coastline and manatee habitats for enough years to have an intuition, and this is one of those cases exactly,” says Mr. Basino.

Manatees become stressed when water temperatures dip below 68 degrees, and can die if exposed too long. Cold-stressed animals quickly become underweight (surprisingly for their girth, manatees don’t have a thick layer of fat) and break out with rashes. Fortunately, all of the 19 manatees rescued this week in Satellite Beach passed their post-rescue physical and were released into a nearby canal.

Biologists say they’ll continue to monitor the health of the herd. As a more practical safeguard, the city of Satellite Beach quickly welded bars onto the pipe so no more sea cows would seek shelter there.

The manatee rescue was by no means the only weather emergency reported from the South in the last couple of days. In Alabama, state officials had to cancel a “winter weather awareness day” at schools because it was too cold to come to school. And Wednesday morning, an MD-80 jet slipped off a taxiway at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as North Texas saw widespread snow, frozen rain, and ice. Some 27 people have perished from the ice and cold in Tennessee in the past week, as the Volunteer State braces for more snow on Wednesday.

To be sure, at least so far, Florida has not experienced the kind of brutal temperatures and widespread animal and fish kills as it saw during the winters of 2010 and 2011. But that didn’t detract from the drama and tension Tuesday as rescuers raced against the clock to extricate the manatees.

Manatees lumbering over 200 yards into a drainage pipe “is kind of weird,” says Spellman, the biologist who oversaw the rescue. “We were lucky to get what we got done when we got it done, because it’s supposed to rain, and that pipe would have filled up very quickly with water.”

Below is the most recent release from US Fish and Wildlife concerning the closures at Three Sisters Springs:

NEWS RELEASE

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Department of the Interior

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Crystal River NWR Complex

1502 SE Kings Bay Dr.

Crystal River, FL 34429

Phone: 352-563-2088

Fax: 352-795-7961

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Release #:

DATE: February 18, 2015 Contact: Ivan Vicente: 352-563-2088 X:211

Daily Monitoring of Multiple Variables Determine In-Water Access to Three Sisters Springs

The US Fish and Wildlife Service staff at Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge is monitoring Three Sisters Springs daily to assess manatee activity and determine the need to open or close the springs for public in-water wildlife viewing.

And now, Back to our blog:

It is difficult to predict when Three Sisters will be open or closed at this time. We want to point out that ALL the other springs remain open and that the tours still go out and are still GREAT!

With this cold weather we have more manatee than ever and the tours have been lots of fun, with plenty of manatee both in and out of the springs.

Come to Crystal River and enjoy our gentile giants.

Refuge staff considers a number of manatee biological requirements and public safety factors to determine these openings and closings. Any one or a combination of these factors may be used to determine the need to open or close the springs. These factors include, but are not limited:

· Predicted or sustained low air temperatures; and

· High tide; and/or

· High manatee numbers/increasing aggregations; and/or

· Predicted or sustained low Gulf water temperatures

Preliminary monitoring has documented over 400 manatees using Three Sisters Springs. NOAA’s National Weather Service predicts upcoming increasing daily low temperatures. Crystal River NWR staff will continue to monitor weather, tides, manatee usage of the springs, and other factors to determine opened or closed status of the springs for in-water wildlife viewing, accordingly. When in-water access at Three Sisters Springs is restricted, visitors can still visit the boardwalk for wildlife viewing. In order to keep you updated on whether Three Sisters Springs is open or closed, we are posting the latest information on our Facebook page at https://facebook.com/CrystalRiverComplex. You do not need to have a Facebook account to see these updates. Additionally, Crystal River NWR is working to install a hotline for Three Sisters Springs Open and Closing Updates.