Sirenews
(ISSN 1017-3439) appears twice a year
in
April and October and is edited by Daryl P. Domning,
Department
of Anatomy, Howard University, Washington, D.C. 20059 USA
(fax:
1-202-265-7055). It is supported by the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission
and
Sea World, Inc.
NUMBER
27
APRIL 1997
IN THIS ISSUE:
- AFRICAN MANATEES CAPTURED IN
GUINEA-BISSAU FOR
PUBLIC DISPLAY IN JAPAN (p. 13)
- MANATEE POACHING CONTINUES IN BELIZE AND
COLOMBIA (pp. 7, 8)
- RECORD MANATEE MORTALITY IN FLORIDA (p. 8)
- MANATEE SANCTUARY CREATED IN MEXICO (p. 16)
IUCN RESOLUTION ON DUGONGS
Members of
IUCN attending the World Conservation Congress in Montreal,
Canada last October adopted
the following resolution on Threats to
Dugong. This resolution
gives additional impetus to the
preparation of a global action plan for the conservation of sirenians, which the
Sirenia Specialist Group has been working on now for
several years. - Amie Bräutigam (SSC Programme Officer)
Threats to Dugong
AWARE
that the dugong (Dugong
dugon) is listed as Vulnerable in the
IUCN Red List
of Threatened Animals;
NOTING
that the largest populations of
the species in the world are thought to
reside in the waters of northern Australia and Papua
New Guinea;
CONCERNED
that there has
been a rapid and catastrophic
decline in numbers
along the Queensland coastline
from Cape Bedford to Hervey Bay, a distance of over 1200 km;
AWARE
that researchers have attributed
the decline in numbers to drowning
in commercial fishing and shark
protection nets, to traditional hunting and, at the southern end of the
area, to decline in the seagrass beds
essential for the species;
AWARE that increased tourist resort, marina
development and other boating facilities that may increase the
number of boats in and along the
Great Barrier Reef and southern
Queensland coast may threaten the dugong population;
ACKNOWLEDGING
that along this
coast groups of indigenous peoples
have voluntarily ceased hunting
of dugong until the population recovers;
ACKNOWLEDGING
ALSO that commercial fishers have agreed to undertake
a range of special measures to prevent continuing
dugong mortality;
NOTING
that the Australian Government
has recently allocated special funds to
undertake a dugong recovery
plan consisting of a programme of management,
education and research designed to prevent further decline
in dugong numbers;
The
World Conservation Congress
at its 1st Session in Montreal, Canada,
14-23 October 1996:
1. CALLS
UPON all States with dugong populations to undertake urgent measures to
ensure that all steps are taken to prevent further decline of the
species in their country;
2. CALLS
UPON the Chair of the Species Survival Commission to request the Sirenia
Specialist Group to
complete and promote the implementation of the Sirenia Action
Plan, with special reference to
the status of the dugong;
3.
CALLS UPON the
Director General to write to all governments of
States with dugong populations, including the Australian
Government, expressing concern and:
a) urging that an ongoing programme of funding
be provided for full implementation of
Operative Paragraph 1;
b)
urging that coastal tourist resorts and marina developments be restricted
to locations that
do not threaten the dugong populations along the Great Barrier Reef
and southern Queensland
coastline.
Note: The
use of the term "indigenous peoples" in this Recommendation
shall not be construed
as having any implications as regards the rights which may
attach to that term
in international law.
WHY DO LOCAL PEOPLE CALL THE DUGONG "SEA
PIG" AND NOT "SEA COW"?
In 1991
Dr. Paul K. Anderson proposed a revision of sirenian
popular names and suggested
introducing the name "sea
pig" instead of "sea cow" for the dugong [see Sirenews No. 16].
He also referred to the fact that
in Sri Lanka the dugong is called "cudalpandi" in Sinhalese
and "kadalpani" in
Tamil, both of which translate as "sea pig".
During my five years'
fieldwork on dugongs in Indonesia I also came across the names
"babi laout" in Malay and "sakoko ka koat" in the local
language of the Siberut islanders, both of which mean
"sea pig". In the Indonesian Dictionary Purwadanuda the dugong is called
"babi duyung", which means
"piggy dugong". Local fishermen in Thailand similarly use a
word which translates as "sea
pig". After Anderson's article, however, the discussion of this
subject did not continue, and
I found among members of the Sirenia Specialist Group little enthusiasm
for debating the vernacular-name issue.
I do
think that this issue deserves
more attention than it has received so
far, since it touches
upon the heart
of the feeding ecology of the dugong and
its niche in
the seagrass ecosystem. Even
more important, a change in popular name may have a positive spinoff
for dugong conservation,
particularly in the regions where "pig meat" is a religious taboo.
Apart from this we should pay
some respect to the knowledge of local people; there is no place
for arrogance here. It is remarkable that all these local
fisherfolk in different countries
and even different regions within
countries all refer to the dugong as "the pig of the sea".
When giving a closer look to the feeding ecology
of the dugong, their approach is not as strange as it seems at first sight:
·
Anderson already mentioned that dugongs, like pigs, are
"rooters" and not "grazers" and are
referred to as rhizome specialists, which is also confirmed by my
research findings in the Moluccas (De
Iongh, 1996). The way they remove the substrate is more similar to the rooting behavior of pigs than
the grazing behavior of cows and other grazers.
·
Anderson mentions that
dugongs are, like
pigs, omnivorous; they
both feed on macroinvertebrates. Dugongs are known (like pigs) to dig circular
craters in search of burrowing mussels.
· I would
like to add that dugongs, like pigs, are able to digest feed with a high fiber
content. Murray (1981) suggests that dugongs are able to use up to 25% of the
fiber fraction for energy, while pigs use 35% of the fiber fraction for energy
(Van Wieren, 1996).
I think, therefore, that there are some very
strong arguments for adopting the popular name
"sea pig" for
the dugong, with regard to both its
feeding ecology and
the expected positive conservation
impact of such a name change. I would like to
appeal to readers
of Sirenews to
write me at the address below if
they agree or disagree and if they
have found local names
in their region (any local name is welcome, be it "pig" or
"cow").
References
De
Iongh, H.H. 1996.
Plant-herbivore interactions
between seagrasses and dugongs
in a tropical small
island ecosystem. Ph.D.
thesis, Catholic University,
Nijmegen, The Netherlands: 205
pp.
Murray,
R.M. 1981. The importance of VFA
in dugong nutrition. In: H. Marsh (ed.).
The dugong. Proceedings
of a seminar/workshop ... 8-13 May
1979. Ed. 2.
Dept. of Zoology, James Cook
Univ. N. Qld.: 94-95.
Van
Wieren, S.E. 1996. Digestive strategies in ruminants and
nonruminants. Ph.D. thesis, Agricultural University, Wageningen,
The Netherlands: 191 pp.
- Hans
De Iongh (Roghorst 343, 6708 KX Wageningen, Holland; fax/tel.
31-317-424599)
SAFETY RULES FOR MANATEE AERIAL SURVEYS
In Sirenews
No. 24 (October 1995) we published a set of safety recommendations for personnel
conducting aerial surveys.
The following Spanish
translation of these
has been furnished by the Sirenia
Project, Gainesville, Florida.
Reglas de Seguridad para Censos Aereos de Manaties
Los
censos aéreos de manatíes presentan un peligro especial para los biólogos haciendo el
censo debido a los aeroplanos
pequeños que se usan normalmente
(se pueden sobrecargar fácilmente), el novel de vuelo relativamente
bajo (generalmente 500 pies), los virajes
cerrados que se hacen frecuentemente para contar manatís (puede
ocasionar stalling) y las rutas de vuelo sobre agua. A veces la dedicacióde los
biólogos puede tornarse en un peligro si la
determinación para terminar una
misión interviene con su juicio referente a las condiciones del tiempo, la
capacidad de su piloto y las condiciones del aeroplano. A
continuación se enumeran
una serie de reglas de sentido común para el personal envuelto en censos
aéreos de manatíes. Estas no pretenden
abarcarlo todo sino destacar algunos aspectos de las regulaciones provistas
por la Oficina de
Servicios de Aeroplanos
(OAS por sus siglas en inglés), las
cuales deben ser acatadas
por todos los empleados del Departamento de Interior (DOI por sus
siglas en inglés) en los Estados Unidos cuando
participan en un trabajo relacionado a la aviación.
Se le agradece a la Sra. Burma Campbell del
Servicio de Pezca y Vida Silvestre de
los E.U. por proveer la información utilizada para desarrollar estas
reglas, por revisarlas y por su interés
y apollo constante.
· El
aeroplano Cessna 172 no tiene suficiente poder para un vuelo de
bajo nivel (menos de
500 pies). Durante misiones de
bajo nivel el aeroplano no puede
funcionar legítimamente con una carga certificada mayor (aeroplano,
pasajeros, combustible, cargamento)
a la recomendada por el
fabricante. Si se planifica llevar más de
dos observadores se recomienda un
Cessna 182, 185 6 206.
· Los
censos nunca deben hacerse a una altitud menor de 500
pies. Muchos biólogos prefieren una altitud de 750 pies para dar vueltas y
contar manatíes en grupos. Bajo la
política de aviación del DOI la tripulación del aeroplano
no debe volar bajo 500 pies sin un entrenamiento especial y equipo
protector personal.
· Debe conocer la capacidad de su piloto.
¿Cuántas horas de vuelo tiene de experiencia el piloto, con el aeroplano en el que se estará como
pasajero? Las regulaciones del OAS piden 1000 horas de tiempo de vuelo para
certificar a un piloto.
· Debe
conocer el registro de servicio
de su aeroplano. La política de
aviació del DOI exige que un aeroplano reciba servicio e
inspección cada 100 horas de tiempo de vuelo.
·
Prepare una lista de lo que Va/No va y revísela antes de
cada vuelo. Recuerde que a
pesar de
que el piloto tiene la última
palabra en la desición de cancelar el
vuelo. Si usted tiene alguna duda a cerca del tiempo, el
piloto o el aeroplano, cancele el vuelo. Usted es mucho más importante que un
censo que se pierda! Además, todos los
censos se deben hacer bajo condiciones óptimas de tiempo para
poder comparar con
censos hechos en otras
fechas; tiempo dudoso equivale
a resultados de
censo dudosos. Si ocurren
cambios en el tiempo, el piloto o la condición física o mental del
observador, el observador debe
cancelar la misión y dedir al piloto que regrese a la base o a
tierra en el lugar más propicio, dependiendo de cuán drástico ha sido el
cambio en las condiciones del vuelo.
· Prepare
un plan de vuelo y déselo al personal entierra que
está en
el aeropuerto de donde
su vuelo despega y termina. La(s) persona(s) a quien
usted le dé el plan
será respnsable de seguir la
trayectoria del vuelo y establecerá los procedimientos de
búsqueda y rescate en caso de que su aeroplano no llegue
a su destino luego de una hora del tiempo estimado de llegada.
· Sólo el
cargamento y los pasajeros que
sean esenciales para la misión deben
ir en el aeroplano.
Esto no sólo elimina la
posibilidad de que se accidente algo
que no debía estar
a bordo, sino que también mantiene el peso del aeroplano en el mínimo
y por
lo tanto usa menos combustible y
reduce los costos. Los biólogos deben tener cuidado en aseguarar
los utensilios que se utilizan a
menudo como: lápices, bolígrafos,
lentes de cámara, cubiertas de
lentes, royos de película, grabadoras, etc.
· La
política de DOI exige que el piloto esté presente para supervisar el
tipo, contidad y calidad del combustible
utilizado en el aeroplano cuando se está repostando combustible.
En EU han ocurrido desastres aéreos debido a reabastecimiento
erróneo en donde combustible para jet se le ha puesto
accidentalmente a un aeroplano de motor alterno.
· Si un
aeroplano unimotor se va a utilizar a una distancia de la orilla más allá de
la que se puede recorrer planeando sin
necesidad del motor, el aeroplano debe tener equipo de flotación y todas las
personas a bordo deben tener su propio equipo de flotación.
· Los
biólogos que tienen misiones de vuelo regulares podrían beneficiarse
de un
curso de familiarización de vuelo que consiste de 4 horas de teoría y 4
horas de entranamiento aéreo (el conso es aproximadamente $500.00). El mismo
pretende darle a los pasajeros un conocimiento limitado de como manejar los
controles, radios, etc...del aeroplano y
de como aterrizar el aeroplano en caso de una emergencia en donde el piloto se
encuentre incapacitado.
Comentarios
sobre éstas regulaciones son bienvenidos. Si desea ayudar en traducirlas a algún
otro idioma puede comunicarse conmigo. Si desea ejemplos de una lista
Va/No va o de un plan de vuelo o
información sobre de familiarización de vuelo por favor comuníquese con: Dr. Lynn
Lefebvre, Sirenia Project,
U.S. Geological Survey
- Biological Resources Division, 412 NE 16th Avenue, Room 250, Gainesville, FL 32601
USA; teléfono: (352) 372-2571; fax: (352) 374-8080;
Internet: sirenia@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu
ZOO CONGRESS
The VII
Congreso de la Asociacion Latinoamericana de Zoologicos y Acuarios will be held
in the
city of Puebla, Mexico, 16-21
April 1997. The theme of the
congress is "La
Nueva Gestion de los Zoologicos para la Conservacion" (New
Conservation Efforts by Zoos).
For information, contact Fernando
Pacheco M., 11 Oriente 2407, Col. Azcarate, Puebla, Puebla, CP
72007 Mexico (tel.
52-22-358713, 358718, 358700,
fax 52-22-358607, e-mail cbsgmex@noc.pue.udlap.mx)
ANIMAL NUTRITION CONFERENCE
A joint
meeting of The Nutrition Society, The Royal Zoological Society of
Scotland, and the British
Federation of Zoos will be held on 16-18 May 1997 at the
Edinburgh Zoo, Scotland. The theme is "Nutrition of Wild and
Captive Wild Animals." For
further information, contact
Mr. Rodney Warwick,
The Nutrition Society,
10 Cambridge Court,
210 Shepherds Bush Road, London W6 7NJ, U.K.; tel.: +44 171 602
0228; fax: +44 171
602 1756; e-mail: 100672.2151@compuserve.com
COURSE IN ZOO ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AND WELFARE
The International Summer School in Zoo Animal Behaviour &
Welfare will be held
this year on 7-18
July 1997 at the Edinburgh Zoo, Scotland. This is a 10-day course
in current scientific theory
and its application to husbandry, management, and welfare of zoo
animals. For further information,
contact Hamish Macandrew, UnivEd
Technologies Ltd, UnivEd Training & Conference Centre, 11 South College
Street, Edinburgh EH8 9AA, Scotland, UK
(fax +44(0) 131 650 9019, e-mail Hamish.Macandrew@ed.ac.uk)
MANATEE MANAGEMENT PLAN AVAILABLE
Copies
of UNEP's Regional Management Plan for the West Indian Manatee (Caribbean Environment Programme
Technical Report No. 35) are
still available from UNEP at
14-20 Port Royal Street,
Kingston, Jamaica (tel.: 809-922-9267 to 9; fax:
809-922-9292; e-mail:
uneprcuja@toj.com). The report is
available in English, French, and Spanish;
please specify which language(s)
you want.
MANATEE POPULATION BIOLOGY PUBLICATION AVAILABLE
The
landmark multiauthored volume entitled "Population Biology of the
Florida Manatee" (T.J. O'Shea, B.B. Ackerman, and H.F.
Percival, eds., National Biological Service
Information and Technology Report 1, 289 pp., 1995) is still
available at no cost. For copies
write: Sirenia Project,
U.S. Geological Survey, Florida
Caribbean Science Center, 412
NE 16th Ave.-Rm. 250,
Gainesville, FL 32601
(e-mail:
sirenia@nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu) OR Tom O'Shea,
U.S. Geological Survey,
Midcontinent Ecological Science
Center, 4512 McMurry Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80525-3400
(e-mail: Tom_O'Shea@nbs.gov).
READ
SIRENEWS ON THE INTERNET
Dan Odell has
kindly posted the text of Sirenews No. 26 on
the Society for
Marine Mammalogy's web site,
and will do so with the present
and future issues as
well. Go to <http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~smm/>; the Sirenews link
is near the bottom of the first page.
These posted versions of the newsletter will not include
the illustrative material or
most abstracts that appear in the hard-copy editions, since these items
are printed from camera-ready copy
rather than digitized. If you
nonetheless find that the Internet versions are
adequate for your needs
and you no longer wish to receive the hard copies, please notify me so
that I
can delete you from the mailing list and save on printing and
postage. - DPD
LOCAL
NEWS
AUSTRALIA
"Emergency"
Measures to Increase Dugong Protection
in the Southern Great Barrier Reef?
- Readers of Sirenews will be aware
of the serious
decline in dugong numbers along a 2000-km stretch of the east coast
of Queensland. Aerial
surveys of the more urbanized and intensively
fished southern Great Barrier Reef indicate that
dugong numbers declined by more than 50% between 1986/87 and
1994. Dugong numbers
in Hervey Bay-Great Sandy
Strait immediately south of the
Great Barrier Reef region also declined
by more than 50% after the loss
of >1000 km² of seagrass habitat in 1992.
Last
November, the Great
Barrier Reef Ministerial Council
considered the issue. This
council is composed of the national and Queensland (state) ministers
of the Environment, Primary Industries, and Tourism.
The Council confirmed
that urgent action is
required to ensure the
recovery of the dugong
population in the Great Barrier Reef
and adjacent waters and
agreed that a chain
of interim "Dugong Protection
Areas" should be established
along this coast in key dugong habitats
at approximately 200-km intervals. They also endorsed
other measures for dugong
recovery and conservation, including
measures to reduce the likelihood
of dugongs drowning in commercial fishing nets or being injured by
underwater explosives.
Little
has changed. Mesh netting has
so far been banned in only one
area, Shoalwater Bay.
This bay is the most
important dugong habitat along
this coast. It has been protected from many anthropogenic activities by
its status as a Military
Training Area; however, the use
of underwater explosives is still permitted
at one site in this bay.
Last month, the large-scale US-Australian military exercise Tandem
Thrust was held
in the vicinity of this bay.
The
effectiveness of these
"Dugong Protection Areas" will depend on the political will to
exclude mesh netting, control boating
activity, reduce inputs from
agriculture, and control coastal
development, and the support of Indigenous
groups to maintain
their moratoria on traditional hunting in this
region. So far, the
Indigenous peoples have been by far the most cooperative stakeholder group. Given
that their association
with dugongs goes back thousands
of years, they understandably consider they have the
most to lose by the extinction of
dugongs along this coast. - Helene Marsh
BELIZE
Manatee Poaching
Continues in Belize.
- We at the Belize Center for Environmental Studies (BCES) are in the process of writing
a management plan for the
proposed Port Honduras Marine
Protected Area. To become
more familiar with
this area, in particular the
banks between the
Snake Cayes, I visited the area in October 1996.
I set
out by boat for the banks
off East Snake Caye with Larry Sauliner, our
Peace Corps Environmental Educator, and his wife, a Rural
Development Officer and
also a Peace Corps
volunteer. After about
40 minutes' travel north along
the coast from Punta
Gorda Town, we arrived in
the Deep River area. I then said
that if we saw vultures we should investigate what they were eating, because there was a rumor around town that the
Guatemalans were over
here killing manatees. By the
time I finished saying this, Ms.
Sauliner pointed out some vultures.
We approached
the shoreline where the vultures
were. Entering the
mangroves, we found the
remains of five
recently-slaughtered manatees.
The skulls were
cracked, apparently with a
hammer or other
metal tool. The persons responsible had cared only for the prime parts; there was lots of
decayed meat on the
bones, and the fins and
skins were all there. Some of the skulls
were of adult size and some were
juveniles.
Continuing our journey,
less than five minutes
away we saw more
vultures. This time there
were four freshly
slaughtered manatees. Again, the prime meat had
been stripped off and the other meat left to rot.
I have
no proof of the
rumor that the meat from these manatees is going to
Guatemala. However, I
am in the
field almost every day
and have never seen or heard of manatee
meat for sale in Belize; but I have
had people confirm
to me that
they have bought the meat in
Guatemala.
Ten minutes from the butchering site are some
offshore cayes where fishermen
camp. These fishermen are mostly Guatemalans who have valid
Belizean fishing licenses.
The fishermen at these cayes have
no regard for Belizean laws or the environment. I have not seen
them killing manatees but I have
seen them setting their gillnets at the
mouths of rivers and
on some of our reefs,
which is illegal in Belize.
As a
concerned Belizean citizen
and BCES employee, I have informed the
appropriate government ministries, and am calling on
them, on community groups, and
on the NGO community to come together and
discuss ways to resolve this
problem. I also believe it is important to call upon our
neighbors from Guatemala and ask
them to
assist us in dealing with this urgent situation.
About a year
ago BCES
facilitated the visits of two
scientists from the USA, who found
approximately 11 butchering sites
and an estimated 35 manatee
kills [see Sirenews
No. 24]. The result was a press
release; but to date nothing has been done except lots of promises
from some donors
and a few pamphlets received from the Florida
Power and Light Company. Meanwhile,
discussions have begun with
the Punta Gorda
Town Police Department and the Fisheries Department. In the
near future we will meet with the Toledo Community College Environmental Club, local fishermen, Toledo
Tour Guide Association, and other
organizations to discuss the possibility of volunteer patrols
in the area.
At this time BCES has no money for this kind
of activity. However, BCES has
volunteered to lend
its boat for patrolling
the waters. Before the patrols can take place, we need
money for fuel, hand radios to call
for support or help
in case of
emergencies, binoculars,
spotlights, batteries, camping equipment (including
tents, hammocks, or sleeping
cots, portable stoves,
etc.), and some rain gear. We
believe that much of the poaching takes
place on rainy nights. - Wil Maheia
(Field Specialist, BCES, P. O.
Box 150, corner of Front Street & Wahima Alley, Punta Gorda, Belize;
e-mail: pgwil@btl.net)
COLOMBIA
Manatee
Poaching Deplored in Colombia. - Hans
de Iongh sent an article from
the Bogotá newspaper
El Tiempo (9 Feb.
1997) that describes
an instance of manatee
poaching and discusses
manatee status in the province of Santander. Excerpts follow:
"ANOTHER CRIME AGAINST
THE MANATEE. A group of fishermen
clubbed to death four of six manatees remaining
in the El Llanito marsh, in Santander.... Sixteen fishermen corraled
and killed [the]
four manatees, including a cow and calf, to obtain two tons of meat, in
what many regard as the worst
ecological tragedy of recent times
in this part of the country.
"According to the director of the
Colombian Institute of Fisheries
and Aquaculture (INPA) in
Barrancabermeja, Pedro Julián Contreras, there
were only six manatees in the marsh.
"The manatee was once
abundant in the rivers, marshes, and mangroves of the warm parts
of the country,
principally on the Caribbean coast
and the lower and
middle Magdalena River. In the latter region, which supposedly had the largest natural concentration of manatees in Colombia, there
are today only 35. There are also some in
Magangué (Bolivar).
"These
animals are hunted
mainly for their meat, whose taste can be mistaken
for that of bacon,
turkey, cattle, chicken,
or bagre [a
freshwater fish], according
to the part it comes from....
"According to witnesses,
the fishermen ensnared the
manatees with nets, which took them almost
half a day.
Then they killed them
and held a manatee roast in the
village that was attended by more
than 100
people, including the police inspector of the
town, who is being investigated
by the authorities. The leftover meat
was sold to fishmongers.
"Paradoxically, in the
opinion of the experts,
the manatee is the
fishermen's best friend, since it
helps preserve the fauna of the places
where it lives, including the
fish. Its ecological and economic
importance is directly
proportional to its
gluttony.... If the manatees
are exterminated, [floating
plants] grow to excess, impede
the passage of light, and kill
off microscopic algae that produce oxygen. This ... reduces fishery production, which harms
the very fisherman who
contributes to the manatee's demise.
"Public prosecutors and local
environmental officials have
begun an investigation of the poachers. The head of the Magdalena Valley Fishermen's Association, Pablo Emilio Tejada, pointed out that the
killing of these animals serves to discredit the
fishing community, which has
benefited from programs
to restock fish in
the marshes. The Regional
Autonomous Corporation of
Santander (CAS) asked the
El Llanito law-enforcement community to economically sanction
the criminals and
cancel their fishing licenses, [or even impose] a penal
sanction, which could vary from
fines to 1-5 years in prison, under the laws in force.
"While the few surviving
manatees in El Llanito are being
slaughtered, the inhabitants of ... Sabana de Torres and Puerto Wilches, in Santander, offer protection and
food to 20 manatees that live in the
Paredes marsh...."
FLORIDA
Disastrous Year for Florida Manatees. - 1996 was the worst year on record for manatee mortality in Florida, even without the spring die-off on the west coast due to red tide. The total number of dead manatees recovered was 415 (nearly twice the previous record), of which 151 were attributed to the red tide outbreak. The remaining 264 exceeded the previous single-year (1990) mortality of 214 by almost 25%; the total 1995 mortality was 201. The 264 non-red tide deaths broke down by cause of death as follows: watercraft, 60; flood gates/ca