According to UNCW Associate Professor Dr. Michael Tift, water temperatures are dropping to a critical point for manatees.
“So now here we are in early November. Water temperatures are in the high 60s to low 70s. So we're right at that critical period now, where it becomes really important to get the public's help reporting any manatees as quickly as they can. If the water temperatures are cold enough, the manatees might only have hours to survive," he told WHQR.
He said you can contact experts by calling the marine mammal stranding line at 910-515-7354 or by filling out the manatee sighting form on the UNCW marine mammal stranding network page.
Adult manatees weigh around 1,000 pounds, but looks can be deceiving — according to Tift, that bulk isn’t insulating blubber.
“So if they're in water 68 degrees Fahrenheit or lower for an extended period of time, they get what's called cold stress, and they can deteriorate really quickly. A lot of people think that manatees are really fat and they have a lot of insulation and they can tolerate really cold temperatures, but actually manatees have really thin insulation, and the majority of their body is actually made of intestines, so they can eat all this grass, and so this is why they have a very slow metabolism,” he said.
While UNCW’s marine mammal stranding program can initiate a response to save the remaining manatees in the area, teams from Florida will respond, according to Dr. Tiffany Keenan, the program coordinator.
“And we have to call Florida and tell them to come take your kids back,” she said.
And while Florida is their main home, sightings of them off the coast of North Carolina are becoming more common.
“So we don't have exact numbers of the animals in the area, but we know for sure with a high degree of certainty that the number of sightings has exponentially increased over the last several years. And in the past, we would maybe get 10 to 15 sightings per year. Now we're getting up to 130 sightings in one year, an average around 50 or 60 sightings per year,” Tift said.
Keenan said they have some regulars who come to the Cape Fear region to hang out.
“There are certain animals that seem to have associations with one another, and as well, when we know these animals, and we have photos, we can actually track if we're concerned about that animal," she said. "One is called Scallop and the other Dot, and they're seen here quite frequently. They're the most reported manatees, and Scallop is still in the area.”
There’s also a manatee named Pamlico, who was rescued from NC waters in November 2024. Scientists can identify individuals, unfortunately, based on the unique boat scars on their backs.
“It’s a sad statistic: around 95% of adult manatees over a 10-year period in U.S. waters had at least one instance of a boat scar from propellers or from the actual boat hitting them. And what’s even sadder is 25% had 10 or more boat scar incidences," Tift said.
As to why manatees are increasing their numbers off the North Carolina coast, Tift said the state offers their favorite meal: seagrass. They’re escaping from things like dangerous red tides that occur more frequently down south, and “the waters in Florida are definitely getting warmer to the point where it could be unsuitably hot.”
Tift added that this year’s El Niño affects more of the Pacific Ocean temperatures — and that those impacts aren’t felt to the same degree in the Atlantic Ocean; however, “it definitely impacts our weather here in terms of rainfall and drought a lot, which can have downstream effects on marine mammal species, based on changes in salinity.”
Research on manatees traveling to North Carolina is just beginning. Keenan and Tift have been part of an effort to tag animals off the coast of South Carolina, and our state will likely be next.
“And so it's possible in the near future that we're going to be tagging some of the animals here in North Carolina to try to figure out what animals are frequently coming back to this area, what areas they like to go to, and that will help us to identify areas that could be used as refuges for them to seek safety,” Tift said.
Starting this spring, the program has been providing data to a private company, Tetra Tech, that is thinking about expanding the Wilmington and Morehead City ports — and they likely will have to manage the manatees who do happen to show their snouts.
