This article is from the spring 2025 edition of Mobile Baykeeper’s print quarterly, CURRENTS. The magazine is mailed to active members who have given more than $50 in the past year. To get on the magazine’s mailing list, donate here.
By Sam Wilkes | Photo by Casey Fredette | Illustration by Courtney Spencer
People typically hear them before they see them, with that startling exhale blowing out above the water’s surface. Though with my first manatee encounter, I saw a V-shaped wake swelling towards my in-law’s floating mat before I knew what creature was emerging from Ole River. No visible dorsal fin, so it was clearly not a shark, but in that split second my mind did not allow for such rational thoughts. Neither did my sister-in-law’s. She hurled a kid to safety and vaulted clear out of the water flat-footed onto the floating mat like Simone Biles. And anyone over forty who has tried to even climb onto a floating mat can appreciate the level of adrenaline needed for that feat.
After a brief panic, we then heard a spray of breath and saw a friendly snout peeking above the water line, instantly sending a message of peace to our anxious group. The grey mass proceeded to glide smoothly like a zeppelin under the crowded mat and further down Ole River out of sight. At the time, we did not know we should have reported the encounter. But that’s changed.
In 2007, Dr. Ruth H. Carmichael, Senior Marine Scientist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab (“DISL”), established the Manatee Sighting Network (“MSN”) in response to a request from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for more research on manatees in our area. “Our goal, for the most part, has been to dive deeply into the mechanistic understanding of what the manatees are doing, when and why,” says Dr. Carmichael.
The MSN focuses on manatees but is part of the larger Marine Mammal Research program run out of Dr. Carmichael’s lab at the DISL. The network maintains a toll-free phone line, an e-mail address, and an interactive website to receive citizen sighting reports. The MSN then utilizes those reports, in addition to satellite telemetry-based tag data, habitat information, and modeling efforts, to better understand all facets of this curious creature’s life in Alabama and nearby waters.
Fossil records show manatees in the northern Gulf of Mexico dating back to the Pleistocene era. In 1493, Christopher Columbus thought he had encountered three sirens or mermaids rising from the sea near what is now known as the Dominican Republic, not realizing he had documented the first recorded sighting of manatees in North America. Columbus noted in his journal, “They were not as beautiful as they are painted since, in some ways, they have a face like a man.”
Today, such a mistake of identity seems bizarre, with our images of luring sirens and lovely mermaids with flowing hair contrasted with the slow bulbous Eeyore of the sea. However, it was such a common mix-up that the scientific name for manatees is Sirenia, derived from the sirens of Greek mythology.
There are three species of manatees, with our region being home to the West Indian Manatee. Over the years they became largely confined to the Florida peninsula as their populations declined. Historically, Alabama waters were considered outside of their typical range. However, in recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of manatees traveling around Mobile Bay and the Alabama coastal areas.
“The apparent recent changes in manatee distribution likely reflect range re-expansion due to a combination of population recovery and climate change, including an increase in mean sea surface temperatures during the fall migration period, which allows more animals to move to areas outside of Florida and stay longer in the cold season,” says Dr. Carmichael.
The MSN’s first successful tagging of a manatee was in 2009 in the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta, an adult female they named “Bama.” The tagging system involves a floating canister with an antenna tethered to a soft belt tied around the base of their tail, equipped with sonar, VHF, and GPS capabilities. Weighing less than one percent of their body weight, the tag is comparable to a person carrying a cell phone. Also, to not impede the manatee’s movements, the tag is designed to break away if entangled or caught on an object. The tagging system can track a single manatee’s movements for hundreds of miles, supplying valuable data about their habitat use and migration ranges.
While tags provide high-resolution location data, they are costly and relatively few animals can be tagged at one time. As a result, the MSN primarily depends on the public’s sighting reports for its work. “Much of what we know about our local manatee population comes from sighting information shared from coastal residents,” says Dr. Carmichael.
Manatees have been sighted in Mobile Bay year-round, but mostly during mid-March to mid-November, with the highest spike in numbers in mid- to late-summer. Manatees have even been reported as far north as the Claiborne lock and dam, about 70 miles north of Mobile. Manatees prefer fresh and brackish shallow-water habitats close to submerged vegetation near shore, and based on the MSN’s data from 2010 to 2019, manatees are sighted most frequently in the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta and Dog River areas of Mobile Bay.
Surprisingly, the manatee’s closest living relative is the elephant, likely evolving from a common ancestor. And manatees are more independent than dolphins and other marine mammals; they tend to travel in herds when mating. “You may see a mother and calf pair, or two to three males who spend time together for a few days at time, but their groups are not tightly constrained,” says Dr. Carmichael.
Adults typically range from ten to thirteen feet in length and weigh over 1,000 pounds. The largest manatee captured in Alabama weighed 1,600 pounds. Even though they typically cruise in a Sunday-driving style of three to five miles per hour, manatees can accelerate to over thirty miles per hour if motivated. Nicknamed “sea cows,” manatees are herbivores that eat a wide range of submerged and emergent vegetation, grinding down nearly 100 pounds daily.
“They will eat just about any vegetation they can get in their mouth, including lawn grass,” says Dr. Carmichael. That helps in other ways as well, because manatees expel gas to control their buoyancy. They oscillate between eating greens and floating up with fibrous gas, to then letting one rip and descending back down to the submerged plants to feast again. Such a life.
“They are stealthy,” says Dr. Carmichael, “and do not have anything like a fin that breaks the surface, so they can be very hard to see. But when swimming they make a series of voids on the water, known as ‘plates.’ Often you may hear them breathe before you see them, or you may see just the snout break the surface of the water.” Manatees are very curious by nature, which can be harmful to their survival as they will sometimes approach boats to investigate. “The best practice while boating in our area is to simply be cautious, obey the ‘no wake’ zones, and be aware of any posted ‘manatee habitat area’ signage, because these are known areas where manatees are regularly sighted and are fairly well posted in Alabama waters.”
Without natural predators, manatees can live to more than sixty years in ideal conditions, though an average life span is only ten to fifteen years due to the dangers posed by humans and the environment. Manatees are listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act and “depleted” under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but they remain listed as an endangered and top priority for conservation in the State of Alabama by the Alabama Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program. Manatees need plenty of space and it is best to avoid actions that would alter their natural behavior. “The best rule of thumb is to stay at least 100 feet away,” says Dr. Carmichael. “If you spot one, don’t chase them, feed them, or touch them. Enjoy quietly observing them, give us a call as soon as possible, and we’ll get to work.”
When citizens call the MSN’s 24-hour hotline, they have the option to choose non-emergency or emergency reporting, with the former being used for documentation of sightings and the latter for immediate response to animals in distress or stranded, alive or dead. In 2024, the MSN upgraded their website to make reporting easier for people using mobile phones and tablets to send photographs but also link their GPS location coordinates, which provides a higher level of accuracy for the tracking data.
As with most animals, water quality is critical for their survival. The MSN team sometimes finds plastic debris in the GI tract of the manatees. In January 2022, the MSN team documented a manatee that died in Alabama waters with a plastic bag obstruction in his esophagus contributing to his death. However, “in the northern Gulf of Mexico, cold stress is the leading cause of death,” says Dr. Carmichael.
Similar to humans, the chance of death for a manatee increases in waters below 68 degrees Fahrenheit. In 2015, the first manatee was successfully rescued in Alabama. The MSN team and their collaborators successfully evacuated the adult female, named “Magnolia,” who was suffering from cold stress and sought refuge in Magnolia Springs, Alabama. She was transported to SeaWorld Orlando for rehabilitation, and after a full recovery, Magnolia was released into the wild near Crystal River, Florida.
Unfortunately, the year 2024 set a record for strandings and responses, says Dr. Carmichael. One of the recent manatee rescues also occurred in the upper areas of Magnolia River, where a nine-foot long, 855-pound male was lethargic and showing signs of cold stress. This rescue, on January 1, 2025 was the first manatee rescue in the country this year. Only two weeks prior, in mid-December, a manatee was rescued from the Theodore Industrial Canal of Mobile Bay for similar cold stress-related issues. Thanks to the work of the MSN and their partners, both adult males are now recovering at SeaWorld Orlando in critical care facilities. These recent rescues were made possible due to quick reporting to the MSN, which allowed for a rapid response.
In 1981, Jimmy Buffett sang on his album Coconut Telegraph that “Sometimes I see me as an old manatee/ Headin’ south as the waters grow colder/ Tries to steer clear of the hum-drum so near/ It cuts prop-scars deep in his shoulder.” A month after that album hit shelves, Buffett co-founded the Save the Manatee Club with Florida’s then-Governor, Bob Graham, which continues to operate today. The research published by the MSN helps us better understand the manatee’s movements and behaviors, aiding in the protection efforts spearheaded by our favorite native pirate.
“We have 20 years of amazing successes and truly new discoveries,” says Dr. Carmichael. “The first documentation of a manatee using a ship channel as a migratory corridor was from our research here in Alabama. We were the first to document the change in distribution and recognize manatees as regular, or at least seasonal, visitors to our area (not accidental visitors) and to quantitatively document the relationship to climate variables.”
The MSN currently is funded by the State of Alabama for basic operations for approximately three years, with annual supplemental funding from the USFWS for seasonal stranding response. The MSN also accepts donations for all aspects of its work.
“We are extremely grateful for the public support,” says Dr. Carmichael. “Funding is always very tight, but we try to make the most of every dollar. One of the biggest challenges is funding for basic monitoring and stranding response, which doesn’t fit under a specific research blanket, but supports everything we do and provides a service to the animals and the community. People also can volunteer to be part of our network of responders or to assist with outreach and education. Plus, we offer training at least annually.”
As the manatee sightings and mortality reports continue to increase in our area, the MSN needs the public’s support and input more than ever. The more we know about these docile creatures and their movements, the better we can coexist while utilizing our local waters. To report manatee sightings, the MSN team is available 24 hours, 7 days a week by phone (1-866-493-5803), email (manatee@disl.edu), or through the online sighting form on their website (manatee.disl.edu). To make a donation, or if interested in volunteer opportunities, please reach out through the website, or the email listed above.
