Along with waves of cooler weather in the months ahead will come waves of warmth-seeking manatees.
As temperatures drop with the season, the endangered marine mammals will cluster around the hot tub-like outflows of South Florida's power plants. They'll
Along with waves of cooler weather in the months ahead will come waves of warmth-seeking manatees.
As temperatures drop with the season, the endangered marine mammals will cluster around the hot tub-like outflows of South Florida's power plants. They'll share deep-water boating channels and finger canals with 80-foot yachts and smaller powerboats and sailboats.
That mingling of manatees and mariners is prompting the usual warning to boaters to keep a lookout for the slow-moving creatures and heed manatee-protection zones. Speed limits in some of the zones will change Friday and remain in effect through March 31 -- South Florida's manatee season -- to slow vessel traffic that can be lethal to manatees.
The boating reminder comes during a record year for watercraft-caused manatee mortality. Of 264 statewide manatee deaths through Oct. 31, 87 were in collisions with boats, state figures show.
Two of the deaths caused by boats this year were in Broward County, while Palm Beach County set a record with six deaths. Yet boating in those counties is much less lethal to manatees than in Brevard County, where the watercraft toll is a state-leading 15 animals.
Manatees -- rotund, gentle animals that carry an average 1,200 pounds on a 10-foot frame -- can die from boat propeller gashes and the blunt force of a boat hull hitting their paddle-tailed bodies. They swim below the water but surface about every four minutes to breathe. They can devour as much as 200 pounds of vegetation a day and like to linger over their main dining place: sea grass beds.
Slow, idle and no-entry signs try to keep manatees and boats safely separated, but some boaters don't pay attention to speed restrictions even with a marine officer watching, said Lt. Bob Knight of t