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Did You Know Dozens Of Manatees Now Call Harris Chain Home?

    Did you know it is believed that several dozen manatees call the Harris Chain of Lakes home?  While manatee sightings have been reported for several years, it may come as a surprise to learn that so many sea cows call the area home.
    With more manatees comes the risk of more manatee injury or death from human-related causes, like boat props, blunt trauma, or environmental conditions.
    Improving habitat for manatees was a main topic at last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the Umatilla Chamber of Commerce, when Maryann Krisovitch of Surface Water Professionals, LLC spoke on the growing manatee population in the Harris chain and what it means going forward.
    From the arrival of ‘Miss Leesburg’ over a decade ago to today, a growing number of manatees are making their way through the Ocklawaha River lock system into the chain, finding ample food and generally agreeable conditions. However, many boaters remain unaware of the growing manatee population, placing the animals at increased risk from prop injury or boat strikes.
    Krisovitch outlined a program being undertaken to educate the public about the manatee population.  Signs have been placed at boat ramps around the chain of lakes to let people know about manatees, and ongoing public education efforts seek to eliminate injuries to manatees that are known to happen in rivers and other water bodies around the state.
    “People don’t know they are out there,” Krisovitch said of boaters on the Harris chain, a place where both recreational boating and professional fishing tournaments bring boats that travel at high rates of speeds.
    Krisovitch said that it is hoped education efforts can provide enough benefit that no wake zones won’t have to be considered in the future, as the manatee population is expected to continue to grow as long as there is ample food.
    “They are coming because they have found food.  A manatee eats 100 pounds of food a day,” Krisovitch said.
    A recent jump in manatee deaths has lowered the state's estimated population of manatees.  Until recent years, the population had been growing. Current estimates have set the manatee population at around 7,000 - 8,000.
    Regardless of population fluctuations, it appears manatees have come to stay in the Harris chain, leaving only during times of cold weather.
    “There have been manatees in the Harris chain year ‘round since 2015,” Krisovitch said.  “The people at the Haines Creek lock see them all the time.”
    Be it in Lake Eustis, Dora, Harris, Griffin, or any of the other bodies of water that make up the chain, boats are asked to take extra care when on the water, as they might be close to coming into contact with an unexpected underwater inhabitant.