Dead manatee is third in last 3 weeks
If Marine Researcher Nicole Auil is getting to be as well known as C.I.B.’s Simeon Alvarez, it’s no coincidence. Both often deal in death… and while the police have to cope with their share of homicides so does Nicole… although her victims are marine mammals and not human beings. Today she investigated her third manatee murder in as many weeks.
The female manatee, weighing an one estimated thousand pounds was first spotted about a hundred yards offshore by workers at Krystal Shipping in Caribbean Shores. According to Nicole Auil, a researcher with the Coastal Zone Management Project, at this time they are absolutely not certain what killed the manatee, but they suspect the animal’s death is part of a disturbing trend they see taking place in the waters around Belize City.
Nicole Auil, Marine Researcher, C. Z. M. P.
“I’m not sure, but that white scarring on the head would indicate that he was hit by a boat or by a barge and this area has a lot of boat traffic and the barges do come in here and last week we had a death as well that we know was killed by a barge and this quite possibly was killed by a boat or barge.”
To determine how the manatee died, Auil and her team of workers were in the water taking measurements and samples from the carcass.
Nicole Auil
“Basically the same thing that we do when we look at them. We take measurements of the animal and that is all caught in a data base and we take as many photographs as possible to determine the cause of death and the age of the animal, the sex of the animal and all of this is basically used for management purposes. If we can tell how the animal died and if we can see a trend in death then we have to do something about it.
Well what we are hoping to do is instill some sort of boat speed zones, especially in the shallow seagrass areas because seagrass is there food and so they forage there. So we would ask, especially the water taxis to slow down or use a deeper channel than shallow areas.”
In the meantime Auil urges all boat and barge operators to be careful especially when traveling between Belize City and Long Caye, the area of highest concentration for manatees.
Auil also reminds people operating boats on the Belize River to slow down and keep an eye out as numerous manatees have been sighted in that body of water. Records indicate that in 1997 a total of eight manatee carcasses were discovered countrywide while so far this year the death toll stands at five. Coincidentally, next week will be celebrated as Manatee Week. Teachers are reminded to submit entries for the essay and poster competitions.
