Manatees in the Bay - The Hull Truth

yottyboy · 02-11-2009, 09:25 AM

Anyone seen one? I know they're often seen in summer. That means they must winter here too.

happyjack92 · 02-11-2009, 10:55 AM

i only remember this guy...http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=510

WGHowardIII · 02-11-2009, 01:53 PM

I saw one years ago (about 8 years ago) on the bay.

Barcoverde · 02-13-2009, 11:43 AM

Hard to imagine them surviving a Chesapeake winter.

ladyjane · 02-13-2009, 04:41 PM

you guys shitting me manitees in the chesapeake we need pics and doc. come on??

CARTERCREW · 02-14-2009, 08:08 AM

Never seen a manatee on the bay. But doubt they'd get this far north on it.

CSoul · 02-16-2009, 03:55 PM

A few years back there was one hanging around Kent Island, it was trapped and move back south.
CSoul

CaptKennyW · 02-16-2009, 06:54 PM

It was one way lost manatee then. I dont think they go any farther north than Charleston.

bustedflat · 02-17-2009, 06:46 AM

There were at least two seperate incidents of them in the chesapeake. The first one ended up in Queenstown
Harbour. The more recent one was spotted in Spriggs Cove off of the Magothy.

ltcavery · 02-17-2009, 06:59 AM

There are seals on the 3rd Island of the CBBT.

http://www.vimeo.com/3230903

happyjack92 · 02-17-2009, 07:11 AM

there were some "sightings" of something unusual last year aournd the magothy and also kent island. speculation ranged from a manatee to a large ray species (i.e. not cow nose rays) to a bull shark...don't believe anything was confirmed.

not sure if any of you checked out the link to the article i posted above...that wayward manatee actually made it all the way to LI Sound! here's the text of that article from March 1996 edition of the Chesapeake Bay Journal:

"Chessie" back at home after Bay trip

By Karl Blankenship
Chessie, the roving Florida manatee who visited the Chesapeake Bay the last two summers, has finally made it back home.

The National Biological Service announced Feb. 23 that it had caught and retagged the wide-ranging manatee so that future voyages can be tracked.

Accustomed to warm waters, manatees are most at home around Florida, though they often go as far north as the Carolinas in the summer.

In 1994, when this particular manatee visited the Chesapeake Bay (hence his name), he was captured, fitted with a satellite-monitored radio tag and flown back to Florida.

Last summer, Chessie returned to the Chesapeake Bay in early July, his movements tracked by the Biological Service's Sirenia Project. Chessie then made history by exploring Long Island Sound and the East River before heading to New England -- the first manatee known to venture that far north.

Chessie swam as far as Rhode Island, which he reached on Aug. 13, before turning around.

His followers were concerned when his radio tag came off -- something it was designed to do only if Chessie became entangled -- and was found off Connecticut on Aug. 22.

Chessie was sighted off Virginia on Sept. 23 and near Jacksonville, Fla. on Nov. 16. He wasn't spotted again until Feb. 20.

Manatees are an endangered species, with a few thousand, at most, left in U.S. waters. The animals' main enemies are people and boats. However, the Biological Service announced that a record 2,639 manatees were counted in Florida during February.

croakerpoker · 02-17-2009, 11:18 AM

they show up around virginia beach every few years. there was one in Rudee this summer that was seen the day before off the Sandbridge pier so he must have just followed the beach. There was one in Little Creek a couple of years ago. There was an article in the paper and a pic of someone giving him a drink from a freshwater hose. The only one i have actually seen north of Fla. was in Hatteras Landing Marina in summer '02 or '03. I would bet they either retreat south or die in the winter.

Just1more · 02-17-2009, 04:47 PM

This is the closest thing I've seen to a manatee around here, even in the summer! [img]../images/emoticons/biggrin.gif[/img]

[img]../photos/get-photo.asp?photoid=29411[/img]