News

Record Summer Sightings In The Northern Gulf

By Dr. Ruth Carmichael, Director, DISL, & Sophia Corde, PhD Student, University of South Alabama and DISL

2024 has been an exciting year for manatee sightings in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Manatee sighting reports to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab’s Manatee Sighting Network (DISL/MSN) were at an all-time high in the middle of the summer but declined in August and September as manatees travel back east to Florida for the winter. Most August and September sightings have come from Alabama’s coastal waters, along Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. We continue to look for Save the Manatee Club adoptee Bama with each sighting report; however, she has yet to make an appearance.

Our tagged manatee Sanford is still hanging out north of Mobile Bay in the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta. We continue to track reports of TexasTeeMiguel, whose tag is offline. If you happen to spot a tagged manatee, please call our sighting hotline at 866-493-5803 or submit a report online at savethemanatee.org/sightingnetwork. Sightings of tagged animals can be valuable to locate animals with malfunctioning gear and to verify the effectiveness of community-sourced data.

More Recent News

From left to right, Senator Kevin Hertel (D-12), longtime SMC 5K organizer Lesley Argiri, SMC Director of Multimedia Cora Berchem, Harrison Township Supervisor Ken Verkest, and Linda Thorpe of Congressman John James' office.
Photo by Save the Manatee Club.

Fond Farewell, New Beginning For SMC 5K

After 21 years of extraordinary dedication, Lesley Argiri and Brian McDonald hosted their final in-person Save the Manatee 5K fundraiser in Michigan this past September.

Jason Rose and Cora Berchem perform maintenance on the underwater webcam at Blue Spring.
Photo by Save the Manatee Club.

Webcams Show Manatees In Their Element

Mid-November marks the start of manatee season, which means our webcams at three state parks will livestream manatees in their natural habitat again!

The above-water webcam at Homosassa Springs captured an aggregation of manatees. Photo by Save the Manatee Club.

Piper’s Recovery Continues

Our resident manatees have been happy all season long in the steady temperature of the beautiful Homosassa spring.