After a fishing guide found it caught in commercial crabbing equipment, a federally protected Florida manatee has been freed and is again moving through Georgia waters near St. Simons Island.
The incident unfolded in the Mackay and Hampton rivers and became the first documented case of a manatee entanglement in Georgia waters, per Grice Connect.
What happened?
Captain Davis Galland, a fishing guide on St. Simons, alerted officials on July 29 of the situation.
Galland provided Georgia's Department of Natural Resources with photos showing an adult female manatee with a crab-pot line and a buoy tightened around her body near her head and right pectoral flipper, according to Jessica Thompson, the head of the state DNR's Marine Mammal Program.
The next day, a three-boat group made up of Georgia DNR, Florida and federal partners, Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute, and the Savannah State University Dolphin Sciences Lab, went on a mission to disentangle the manatee, per Grice Connect.
Two smaller manatees, including at least one calf, stayed close to the adult during the operation, which made the rescue harder and prevented responders from safely lifting her onto Florida FWC's specialized manatee rescue boat and net.
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Thankfully, the teams were able to move quickly and carefully and remove the tangled equipment, which was reportedly cutting into the animal's body, according to Grice Connect.
Why does it matter?
Each year from spring into early fall, Florida manatees, animals that can regularly top 1,000 pounds, leave Florida for Georgia and the Carolinas, where they feed on marsh plants and algae.
Unfortunately, like countless other marine animals, they are at risk of getting caught in commercial fishing (or crabbing) equipment. And these kinds of entanglements can turn serious fast and can unfortunately end up leading to animals' deaths. As Thompson told Grice Connect, "We knew the entanglement was life-threatening without human intervention."
But trained professionals know how to rescue trapped animals and are far more likely to do so when cases are reported early. This specific team noted that its successful rescue was aided by its experience untangling other marine mammals.
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