The manatee, also known as a sea cow, is a generally slow moving, warm water species.  They are very common in Florida, where humans and their associated water-craft are also quite prevelant, which there in lies the rub. Often found in shallow water, near the surface, manatees are at high risk for water-craft interactions (i.e. getting hit by boats and other things like jet skis).  This problem has been known about for years, and there are regulations and protections in place, but manatees are still getting hit. How many and how often? That is what this paper is about this week. Join us to find out the astronomical numbers surrounding how many manatees have evidence (scars) from water-craft collisions (and how many scars per animal - spoiler it is usually way more than one), what this means for their population, and how our current protections and regulations are just not doing enough.

Paper freely available: https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v43/p395-408/

Help us continue to provide content like this by donating: https://pacmam.org/wp/donate/

We also have merchandise: https://pacmam.org/wp/shop/