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I went to Crystal River to shoot some "pretty picture" manatee video. It didn't take long before I started seeing a lot of bad behavior from snorkelers, guides, and tour operators.
I will post some underwater stuff later but here is a topside example.
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Couldn't agree more. I was there over the winter break and although it was with hindsight a stupid time to go considering how busy it was, I was shocked at the operators approach. I didn't see one operator any better than the others, including those who apparently have a good reputation. I saw repeated harassment of Manatees by 'organised' groups guides and guests. There was little or no inforcement or policing of regulations. On one day in particular Three Sisters was mobbed with over 20 boats moored up and many more trying to get in and yet the tour operators were still bringing more and more snorkelers there and throwing them into the water to join the chaos. On another occasion I was told by a tour operator that they were filming harassment of Manatees and reporting violations, while at the same time their own guide was chasing a Manatee behind their boat for the enjoyment of their tour group. You just can't make stuff like that up.
The ironic thing is that I still ended up having a fantastic time. A cold front came across Florida and for two days there was hardly anyone in the water and literally dozens of Manatees everywhere. The difference in the behaviour of the Manatees on those days was marked. Rather than hiding away in their sanctuary areas they were actively engaging human interaction. Take this guy guy(or gal?) for example. http://www.viewfromtheblue.me.uk/ManateeTickle.m4v He wouldn't leave me alone or let me film him until he'd had a long hard scratch on his belly. I'm normally totally against touching marine animals in any way shape or form, but he followed me around like a puppy dog for about 30 mins constantly nudging me and pushing me around and whenever I was filming another Manatee he'd try and get between us and grab all the attention. A truly magical experience.
So what should be done? Well I'm not a hypocrite so I don't think a total ban is the answer, but the regulations already in place need to be policed effectively. Tour operators that violate the regulations should be banned. Individuals who violate the regulations need to be heavily fined. In my opinion uncontrolled chaos can't be allowed to continue.
Since i used to work for Fox13 news in Tampa i can tell you we do stories on this every year. This is video any of the news stations might be interested in seeing/using. It isnt right that so many are harassing the manatees especially the tour operators. Unfortunatly it can also have a reverse affect...last year they were talking about only letting so many people on the river a day (like what Manatee springs does with divers) also making more "sanctuary" areas for the manatees to get into for safety....which is ironic if we are the ones trying to pretect them and because of us they need more safety!?!?!
were there any rangers in the area that you could have reported this to?
who is in the boat in the background, seemingly inside the buoys marking the "no people" zone in the first video?
One of the challenges facing the Kings Bay area is lack of enforcement budget. There are guidelines which the operators are suppose to follow but unless there is enforcement, much abuse of the rules continue.
No those people are not in the roped off area. Just angle looks like it. Good eye though.
I'd send the video with an ID of the operators to the authorities.
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That's horrible. If this kind of thing is happening out in the open, I can only imagine the authorities know but don't have resources to enforce. I agree - get this to the news and put some pressure on either the operators to stop this behavior, or the state to increase enforcement!
Totally different experience from the time we were there years ago.
I hope you have forwarded this video with details of the operators involved (assuming you know for sure which clients were with which operator - need to be careful not to tar all operators with the same brush) to the appropriate governing bodies. Shame you couldn't ID the actual offenders in that second one - they deserve fines.
I also hope you smacked each and every one of those idiots with a big stick. People make me sick.
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