(15 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Riviera Beach, Florida – 10 January 2025
1. Various of people watching manatees in lagoon
2. Close of manatee surfacing
3. Wide of Florida Power and Light Riviera Beach power plant and manatee lagoon
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rachel Shanker, Manatee Lagoon education manager:
"We are here at Manatee Lagoon, and this time of year, from November 15 through March 31 is manatee season. But on a cold day like today where we’ve had a few consistent cold fronts to really drop that water temperature, we start to see dozens and dozens of manatees gather for the clean, warm water outflow from the power plant next door."
5. Worker counting manatees
6. Manatee noses surfacing
7. Manatees congregating near power plant wall
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Rachel Shanker, Manatee Lagoon education manager:
"Manatees cannot survive in water temperatures below about 68°F (20 degrees Celsius). So once it starts getting cold, they have to seek out warm water refuges such as the one right here at Manatee Lagoon in order to stay healthy."
9. Wide of man watching manatees
10. Board with manatee sightings numbers
11. Wide of people looking out to water
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Rachel Shanker, Manatee Lagoon education manager:
"Manatees will gather at different power plants across the state of Florida. So they’ll find different warm water refuges, whether it’s power plants or natural springs– that water is going to be about 72 degrees (22 degrees Celsius) year-round. Or they’ll backtrack up into just some natural warm water canals that don’t get quite as cold as our intercoastal waters do."
13. Mid of power plant
14. Mid of people looking at manatees, sign on wall reading (English): “Do not feed manatees”
15. People taking pictures of manatees
16. Manatees in water
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Rachel Shanker, Manatee Lagoon education manager:
"Manatees are such a special species that we have in our waters here in Florida because they are a sentinel species, which means that they’re an indicator for any water problems that we may have or any environmental issues we may have. They’re kind of the first animals to start to respond to any changes in the environment. And because they’re so charismatic, people really take note of that."
18. People near water
19. Close manatee surfacing
STORYLINE:
A polar vortex that has hit much of the U.S. with ice and snow has dealt a glancing blow to Florida, dropping coastal temperatures and causing the Sunshine State’s manatee population, still recovering from a mass starvation event several years ago, to seek warmer waters.
Besides inland natural springs, a popular destination for the docile aquatic mammals is the warm-water outflows of about a dozen power plants around Florida.
Manatees have been attracted to the warm-water discharges for decades, following a watery travel route that mother manatees have taught to manatee calves.
Public viewing areas are located near power plants in Riviera Beach, Fort Myers and Apollo Beach.
Dozens of the sea cows, which can grow up to 10 feet (3 meters) long and 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms), have been congregating for the past week near Florida Power & Light Company’s Riviera Beach plant, where the company opened the Manatee Lagoon attraction in 2016.
The two-story, 16,000-square-foot complex is free and open to the public. They’re hosting a family-friendly ManateeFest on February 1.
“They’re kind of the first animals to start to respond to any changes in the environment. And because they’re so charismatic, people really take note of that.”
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