Manatee Captured!

Scientists are studying what affect the oil spill will have on marine life. Today, we got an exclusive look at a project underway at Dog River from the News 5 Wind Creek Chopper. We headed out on our daily flight when we came across a small plane circling their discovery on Dog River. They spotted a manatee; inside the plane, a member of the Sea to Shore Alliance, a non-profit research and conservation group. Then, their partners in this project move in by boat. On board, members of Sea World Orlando, A University of Florida Vet, US Fish and Wildlife, The Alabama Department of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries as well as a marine scientist from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. They're trying to catch the manatee, tag it, then release him back into the wild. They want to monitor manatee behavior and their movement so they can better protect the endangered species. They also want to see what affect the oil spill is having on them, "because of the oil spill this Spring, it's also given us an opportunity to make some comparisons between the data we collected before the spill and now on the behavior and the condition of these animals after the spill," said Dauphin Island Sea Lab Senior Marine Scientist, Dr. Ruth Carmichael. The team plans to track the manatee for a year. They know some of the other manatees they've tagged have been migrating through areas that have had oil but so far they haven't seen any negative affects on them. But, Carmichael says that doesn't mean they're not there, they just have to continue to keep an eye on them to find out for sure.