Manatee Appreciation
Day
Wednesday March 30th,
2022 was Manatee Appreciation Day. It was serendipitous that on that same day I
just happened to be painting manatees within an underwater mural. We love our
sweet sea cows here in SW Florida. They are gentle, peaceful, herbivores
incapable of attacking with their teeth. Swimming with manatees is a delightful past time
here in Florida. I was thrilled to spend time swimming and playing with a baby
manatee on my birthday adventures a few years back. Sadly, these loving sea
mammals are endangered. In part because their food resources are diminishing. Manatees
are Federally protected, and state protected.
The Florida
Manatee Recovery Plan was developed as a result of the Endangered Species Act
and is coordinated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS).
In October of
1989, Florida’s Governor and Cabinet directed the state’s wildlife agency to
work with 13 “key” manatee counties in Florida to reduce injuries and deaths.
These 13 counties were: Brevard, Broward, Citrus, Collier, Dade, Duval, Indian
River, Lee, Martin, Palm Beach, St. Lucie, Sarasota, and Volusia. Over the
years, these 13 county governments have worked with the state to develop site-specific
boat speed zones to reduce the likelihood of watercraft collisions and to
implement comprehensive manatee protection plans (MPP) for each county. Other
conservation measures deemed important to saving manatees include: research
addressing biology, mortality, population and distribution, behavior, and
habitat of manatees; implementation of management plans; posting of regulatory
speed signs and levying of fines for excess speeds in designated areas; manatee
education and public awareness programs; and public acquisition of critical
habitat and creation of sanctuaries.
Some say that the
manatee isn’t cute. I totally disagree. Their sweet gentle inquisitive nature
shows through their delicate small eyes.
When painting the
mural, I knew I would want to include manatees. I specifically chose the position
of these 2 within the mural from my experience in Homosassa. The mother lingers
back and allows the baby upfront to play and check out the humans swimming
about:
The mural itself was
inspired by students at Trafalgar Middle School wishing to leave their mark on
their beloved school. Painted within the cafeteria /assembly room it now joins
in with a previous mural of the 3d Bull shark :
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