Oh No- Bad News on Palma:

Palma Sola's tag w/tether was recovered today. Tether broke at weak link. No belt or manatee was in close proximity, but human mobility in the area was extremely difficult so we could not cover much ground. Tag was recovered 40-50ft (depending on opening) from the mangrove edge of Charlotte Harbor's west "wall". The way the tag was laying indicated placement due to an outgoing tide. The tag was not lodged, no easy float in accesses (full root and old foliage debris), trees had major defoliation along with 50% downed trees in the area we searched. This area does not normally have an outgoing tide unless there are way above normal tides. Current consensus is that the tether would not have broken due to mere wave action. If wave action was that forceful, then the belt is what should have worn down from constant pull/tug of the waves and broke at it's weak link.

Hypothesis at this point, Palma Sola w/tag was in the mangroves at some point during the hurricane. How far in??? Cannot answer that. Worse case scenario is that he broke his tag off while in the mangroves and did not make it out when the tide went. According to the maps, there is a marsh area right behind where the tag was recovered. An aerial survey is going to be flown tomorrow to make sure, to the best of our ability, Palma Sola is not in the mangroves or marsh area (or other animals for that matter). If all checks out for the land portion of the flight, a survey will be performed to note animal location while also looking for that sly belted critter. Thank you to Kat Frisch and Tom Pitchford (FWC) for being able to fly as observers for this flight in my absence.

Side note: We sonic tracked for Palma Sola in all his previous know locations with no luck. Also, the west "wall" is a known high use area for manatees this time of the year (80 quoted seen while doing an aerial survey). We have always seen other manatees when out tracking in this area but this time, NONE. Very calm day, flat waters that even allowed us to see sharks feeding. We should have been able to see them based on the water conditions. It will be very interesting from the survey to see if there are manatees around or if the hurricane caused them to change their distribution along the west "wall". This may be the beginning of understanding what happens to a manatee population after a hurricane.

August 18, 2004: (Kat Frisch, FWC)

Tom Pitchford and I just returned from flying a three hour survey of the Charlotte Harbor area in search of Palma Sola. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Palma, nor of any other manatees (in water or on land), in the areas he has frequented around the west wall of Charlotte Harbor. We circled the area of the tag recovery extensively but did not see anything suspicious thru the mangroves or in the marsh behind them. As Monica mentioned, the West Wall has been documented as being used regularly by manatees in the past. In addition to covering the West wall and Bull and Turtle Bays, we extended the survey to cover the perimeter of Charlotte Harbor including the northern limits (Hog Island) , the east wall, down across Pine Island and then up Sanibel and Captiva to Boca Grande. As Monica mentioned in her earlier email, the extensive mangrove areas around Charlotte Harbor were largely flattened and denuded by a combination of wind and storm surge. Visibility through the mangroves along the shoreline was considerably better than usual. However, the mangroves were already turning brown making it somewhat difficult to spot a grayish, brown manatee. In addition, there were large amounts of debris scattered throughout the survey area up into the mangrove regions. We are happy to report that we did not seen any areas with circling or roosting vultures which we felt might indicate something dead being in the vicinity. As I'm sure you all have heard, the area was severely devastated by Charley and the pictures on television do not due justice to the extent of the damage.

To comment further on Monica's note of yesterday regarding the lack of manatees in the area: we saw only 5 manatees in the entire area and those seen were all near Sanibel. Three of the five were in the Gulf traveling along the shoreline. (Perhaps manatees seek the shelter of deeper water in the Gulf during major storms?) However, approximately 14 manatees were seen while in the Lemon Bay area (somewhat north of the hurricane path) during the transitionary portions of the flight to and from the survey area. (An extensive survey was not done of this area but observed manatees were noted.) Several dolphins were also seen. In addition, a dead dolphin was seen on the beach at Sanibel Island.

Final note: Mote Marine graciously agreed to keep a lookout for Palma Sola and other potentially dead or stranded manatees during regularly scheduled surveys of Charlotte County later this week.