MORE THAN 2,500 MANATEES COUNTED DURING SYNOPTIC SURVEY St. Petersburgâ€â€ÂÂÂBiologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Florida Marine Research Institute (FMRI) are releasing the preliminary results of a statewide synoptic survey, conducted February 20, 2004, to count manatees by air and by ground. Twenty-three observers (16 in air and 7 on the ground) from 14 different agencies participated in this year’s survey. The preliminary count by observers is 2,568 manatees. Observers on Florida’s gulf coast counted 1,309 manatees and those on the east coast counted 1,259. The total number may change slightly once all of the data are complied and survey maps have undergone final verification. The synoptic survey is only one of many tools biologists use to assess the manatee population.
Weather and behavior of the manatees affect synoptic survey counts. Higher counts are obtained in years with periods of sustained cold weather that occurs throughout the state. Cooler weather causes manatees to move to warm-water sites where they are more easily counted. Four days of consistent cold weather in the northern part of the state last week contributed to the fourth highest annual count since the surveys began in 1991. In 2003, under near perfect weather conditions, biologists counted 3,113 manatees. Although weather conditions met the *criteria for conducting the synoptic survey, they were not as good as in 2001 and 2003, years with the highest counts. (*Criteria includes air temperatures forecasted below 45 degrees Fahrenheit at Tampa International Airport on at least one of three days before the survey, water temperatures below 64 degrees Fahrenheit at Egmont Key when the decision is made, no winds forecasted above 15 knots on the survey day, no sky conditions forecasted as mostly cloudy or rainy on survey day in the entire survey area.)
Biologists have a preion of favorable weather conditions for the synoptic survey which includes a prolonged cold front, a significant drop in water temperature and a sunny windless day following the cold front.