Manatee Swimming In The Sampit
Written By Tommy Howard (thoward@gtowntimes.com)No, it wasn't a mermaid.
Roberta Mason and other homeowners in Harmony Township saw a manatee at Friendfield Marina Sunday morning, between 9 and 10 a.m.
The marina, on the Sampit River about three miles from Georgetown, is about 17.5 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.
"He started at the east end of the marina," she said, "just nibbled its way all the way down. He was there about 20 to 25 minutes, just munching away, and then went up the Sampit."
Mason said she really didn't know whether the manatee was male or female.
"They are so endangered. I'm just concerned boaters may not be aware they are in the area," she said. They travel singly or in small groups, she continued, so there could be others.
At Friendfield Marina, water along the river bank is about four feet deep, while the channel is 26 feet deep, Mason said.
Manatee have no natural enemies, she continued, "but the 'gators will harass them."
A resident of Harmony Township for about three years, Mason said she's seen alligators along the Sampit numerous times.
The manatee was maybe 8 to 10 feet long. A man also at the marina at the time estimated it could have weighed about a ton, or 2,000 pounds.
"The tail was nicked from boat rudders, and it had scars on its back," Mason said.
DNR records
The S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) asks that people who see manatees file a report of the sighting with the agency.
The creatures live primarily in Florida and the Caribbean. From 1850 to 1981, just 23 manatee sightings were documented in South Carolina. The number increased to 52 by 1992. Since 1993, with a greater effort at educating the public, the total reported sightings has increased to 1,117 through 2004.
Since then, Tom Murphy with DNR told the Georgetown Times on Monday, there have been about 75 to 100 manatees reported each year. Murphy works from the agency's Donnelly office at Green Pond in Colleton County.
"We get a lot of reports from Georgetown," Murphy said. "Manatees go all the way up to the headwaters of most of the rivers in the state. We see a lot more in the southern part of the state, particularly Beaufort County," he said.
So far this year -- and summer is the heaviest time for manatee sightings -- DNR has had 19 reports from the public, from the Savannah River to Little River, Murphy said.
The depth of the water doesn't make much difference to manatees, Murphy continued.
If a manatee is hit by a boat or its propellers, "it would be pretty obvious in the way the animals react. We don't see a lot of that in South Carolina. They are typically in shallow water, feeding."
Manatees are herbivores, meaning they eat vegetation. They consume about 10 to 15 percent of their body weight each day in aquatic plants.
Estimates are there are only 2,500 to 3,000 manatees, but that figure is just an estimate. Several Web sites state that the actual number of manatees is unknown.
The individual seen at Friendfield Marina on Sunday was marked with scars and nicks in its tail. Those are indicators that the manatee has encountered humans -- to its detriment -- in the past. And that is one of Roberta Mason's concerns, that people boating along the Sampit River may not realize the creatures sometimes travel that far inland.
She wants people to be aware and on the lookout.
For its part, DNR has a link on its Web site to report sightings of manatees. There are also phone numbers, in case someone sees an injured manatee.
"Manatees are protected under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act," Murphy said, "and therefore we do not recommend the close approach or petting of manatees. But (there are) no documented problems."
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"It was just so fascinating to watch the manatee," Mason said. "It was so nonchalant, not afraid of anybody."
More info
To report an injured manatee in South Carolina during normal business hours, you may call (843) 953-9015 or (843) 844-2473 in Charleston. After hours, contact the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) hotline at 1-800-922-5431. You can also find other information and use the Manatee Sighting Form at http://www.dnr.sc.gov/manatee/sight.htm.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has information at http://fl.biology.usgs.gov/Manatees/manatees.html.
Another Web site with information is www.savethemanatee.org.
To see more of the manatee photos by Chris Voso, a Harmony lot owner who lives in Spartanburg, visit the Georgetown Times Web site www.gtowntimes.com.