Manatee photo ID survey

Survey field notes: 7/8/2016 

Another manatee photo id survey was conducted at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute @ FAU at 1:45 pm – 2:20pm on July 8, 2016 with clear, sunny skies. One cow/calf pair was spotted in the channel. The pair were traveling along the seawall while nursing. They slowly crossed the channel into the shaded areas over by the submersible garage ramp.

No other animals were observed today. None were needed because there is nothing better than seeing a baby marine mammal. Here are the pictures to prove it! There is also a detail shot of the mother's tale fluke for identification purposes.

Manatee Photo ID survey

The Manatee Research team at FAU’s Harbor Branch campus regularly conducts photo id/surveys on Florida manatee that frequent campus. The Harbor Branch channel plays a vital role as a thermal refuge, with >100 manatees congregated in the basin during recent winter cold fronts. The goal of this research is to develop an integrated system using existing (photo-identification) and new (remote sensing) techniques to continuously monitor manatee behavior and habitat.

For the next two weeks, the library’s staff science guy (or gal) will be conducting these surveys and posting about it here. You can also find the HBOI research team on facebook here. Find them and follow, so you can keep updated on all things manatee!

Survey field notes: 7/6/2016

The survey was conducted on July 6, 2016 from 2:00 pm – 2:30pm. One adult manatee was present in the HBOI channel [located close to the small boat marina at a day dock area]. The manatee was observed surface resting, with very little activity. Breaths were taken every few minutes; with little movement, most of the body of the manatee was submerged. No manatee were spotted in the second survey location.

Here are the photos.

What’s the deal with the algae all over the manatee? Here are some peer reviewed articles on the topic.

Interactions between non-native armored suckermouth catfish (Loricariidae: Pterygoplichthys) and native Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) in artesian springs Leo G. Nico1*, William F. Loftus2 and James P. Reid1 1 U.S. Geological Survey, 7920 NW 71st Street, Gainesville, Florida 32653 USA 2 Aquatic Research & Communication, LLC, 1759 NW 20th St., Homestead, FL 33030 USA E-mail: LNico@usgs.gov (LGN), arc_wfl@bellsouth.net (WFL) * Corresponding author

The tanaid Hexapleomera robusta (Crustacea: Peracarida) from the Caribbean manatee, with comments on other crustacean epibionts. Benjamín Morales-Velaa1, Eduardo Suárez-Moralesa1 c1, Janneth Padilla-Saldívara1 and Richard W. Hearda. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK / Volume 88 / Issue 03 / May 2008, pp 591-596

A COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION TO THE BIOFOULING PROBLEM FOR THE ENDANGERED FLORIDA MANATEE AND OTHER SPECIES BY KATHLEEN D. OPPENHEIMER* AND TODD K. BENDOR. TOJCI.OPPENHEIMER.DOC

Here is some internet stuff on the topic:

The Benefits Of Having Stuff Grow All Over You. Cameron McCormick, 2009.

The Manatee Project at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute

@hboimanatees

Did you know that scientists at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute @FAU have a program that keeps track of manatees that frequent campus?

Since the 1970's, manatees have been noted in the channel at Harbor Branch Oceanographic, with large number seen in the winter time. Because this is not a warm water spring nor a power plant outflow, it has not been considered a traditional warm water refuge. The nearest warm water refuges where manatee observations continue are at the power plants in Coco Beach and Riviera Beach (Coco is about 60 miles north and Riviera is about 60 mile south). So, Harbor Branch is in the middle of a 120 mile gap in observations. Since 2009, we have conducted a formal photo-identification program to document which manatees are using the Harbor Branch waters, note the behaviors, and share our photos with the Manatee Individual Photo-identification System (MIPS) operated by the USGS in Gainesville, FL.

You can find them on Facebook here  and at their website here.

Research Field Notes: No. 6

6/26/2014. Dolphin Boat Survey

Today’s survey extended from the Jupiter Inlet (N 260 56.624' W 800 03.805') down to the Lake Worth Pier (26°37′11″N 80°3′31″W)

Water conditions: 0-1’

Winds: SE 0-5

Duration: 8:30am-4:00pm

Research Organization: Taras Oceanographic Foundation

Encounters: Three with a total of approximately 60+ dolphins. The first encounter was with tursiops (Bottlenose). This was a small group feeding. Encounter 2 was with a large group of stenella (Spotted dolphin). This group was very playful and was comprised of several mother/calf pairs! They put on quite the show with bow riding, wake surfing, tail slaps, all around the boat. This one went on for quite some time. The final encounter was tursiops again, but this time a very large group or 25+. This group of bottlenose was more cooperative with our boat and we got some nice shots. There were also babies in this group. One dolphin (Slappy) kept them all in line with tail slaps throughout the encounter.

[Personal notes:  SQEEEEEEE!!! Teeny tiny baby dolphins are so very cute!!]

Additional Sightings: We recorded approximately 32 sea turtles. We have also begun trash counts. Today we saw 16 trash items in the water. We try to recover these items and keep the plastic out of the ocean. Our big score this trip was recovering a large bunch of silver helium balloons. People should be aware that releasing balloons into the sky, usually ends up littering places that do not need any more trash. Shiny balloons look like bait fish sparkling in the sun. 

This is the perfect opportunity to talk about ocean plastics. Plastic is not like other kinds of trash. Trash bio-degrades. Plastic photo-degrades with the sunlight. This means it keeps breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces. It never goes away. These pieces of plastic are ingested by animals and eventually kill them; the microscopic plastic dust attracts more debris resulting in huge garbage patches. Plastic does not belong in the ocean.

Other: Here is a short movie of the crew today. Unfortunately we have no dolphin footage again, but will try next trip to get it!! There are many jobs happening at once while we are on fins, so filming is not always possible [P.S. The survey boat is usually not moving this fast. It is harder to spot any dolphin if the boat is moving fast!].

Research Field Notes: No. 3

6/04/2014 Dolphin Boat Survey

Due to conditions out on the open ocean; the morning survey did not take place. Conditions did not improve for the afternoon; however we had received several reports of dolphin sightings in the Lake Worth Lagoon (26°40′53″N 80°02′45″W) over the past several days, so we decided to head down to the area travelling in the intracoastal waterways. We were not successful in sighting any dolphins. The research team spent the first part of the day in the office doing data analysis.

Conditions: Seas 3-5 feet. Winds E/SE 10 knots

Duration: 12:00pm – 5:00pm

Research Organization: Taras Oceanographic Foundation

Recorded dolphin photo ID: zero encounters on this trip.

 

Other: Behind the scenes. The boat survey is only a small portion of the work that is needed to be done for photo ID and habitat utilization studies. Each trip can produce a few hundred to even a thousand images. Once the team heads back to the office, the photos need to be downloaded, sorted and compared. The best images of each animal are organized into their own file. This step is the most labor intensive. Illustrated by the fact that the researcher has to figure out which images are of one animal [this is done from comparing distinct dorsal fin markings]; how many times you have seen each animal; and compare it to the existing ID catalog.

They are several ways of organizing these ID photos and each researcher develops their own system. There are however universal ID methods and protocol that are utilized. These processes take countless hours. There is also GIS mapping data; habitat and COA (coefficient of association) data files, etc. that need organized and analyzed depending on what the research team is investigating.

Students doing field work or internships soon learn the field part is actually a very small portion of the entire research process.