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Mortality and Rescue

Information gained through carcass salvage and manatee rescue and rehabilitation is crucial to providing wildlife managers with information about manatee health, mortality factors, life history, and general and reproductive biology.

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A network of researchers and law enforcement agencies was established in 1974 to recover manatee carcasses and assist injured manatees. In 1985, the responsibility of the manatee carcass salvage, necropsy, and rescue program was transferred to the State of Florida by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and therefore now rests largely with FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI).

FWRI staff members from five coastal field stations retrieve all reported carcasses. These stations are located around the state: Jacksonville, Melbourne, Tequesta, Port Charlotte, and St. Petersburg. Most recovered carcasses are transported by field personnel from recovery locations to FWRI’s Marine Mammal Pathobiology Laboratory (MMPL), in St. Petersburg. Staff at MMPL perform consistent, high quality, post-mortem examinations to determine cause of death. Information gained through carcass salvage and manatee rescue and rehabilitation is crucial to providing wildlife managers with information about manatee health, mortality factors, life history, and general and reproductive biology. Through this work, FWRI significantly contributes to the evaluation of threats facing Florida manatees and provides crucial information to resource managers and partner agencies.

To view highlights from the 2007–2008 fiscal year, download
Mortality and Rescue 2007–2008 Highlights (PDF File—320 KB)

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