07x02 - Giant Manatees in Florida

[bunniefuu]

[bright music]

- [Announcer] Today on "Blue World,"

Jonathan and cameraman
Tim explore a sweet wreck

in The Bahamas.

But first, Jonathan helps with the annual

manatee assessment in Florida.

[upbeat music]

Meet Jonathan Bird,

one of the world's top underwater
nature cinematographers.

Traveling the world on assignment

for all the major networks,

he is an Emmy Award-winning authority

on the underwater world.

In freshwater or salt,
reefs, wrecks, or caves,

Jonathan documents the
world beneath the waves.

Welcome to the "Blue World."

[gentle music]

- [Jonathan] The West Indian
manatee is a marine mammal

that lives in the shallow coastal ocean

around Florida and the Caribbean sea.

As a mammal, it has to surface to breathe,

just like dolphins and whales.

But unlike dolphins and whales,

the manatee eats only plants,

making it the only completely
herbivorous marine mammal.

Because they're slow
and completely harmless,

manatees were hunted
extensively in the past,

and the population has been
diminished by pollution,

encroachment on their habitat,

and even accidents with boats.

Most of the time,

manatees are solitary animals,
keeping to themselves.

It's rare to encounter more than one.

But in Florida, at the
northern end of their range,

the water can get pretty
chilly in the middle of winter.

And the manatees swim up rivers
to reach warm water springs

where they wait out the cold weather.

At Three Sisters Spring
in Crystal River, Florida,

hundreds of manatees
gather for protection,

and since they've been protected by law

for more than 40 years, their
numbers are finally growing.

Waiting out the cold
weather isn't very exciting.

With very little to eat here

and with naturally
antisocial personalities,

the manatees mostly just
rest in the shallow water.

Algae grows on their backs,

providing a buffet for schools of fish.

These winter aggregations of manatees

provide the perfect
opportunity for biologists

to study the population.

Back in the first season of "Blue World,"

I met Dr. Bob Bondy,

one of the world's top manatee experts

as he was performing
in-water manatee assessments

to gauge the health of the
animals in Crystal River

as part of the US Geological
Survey Sirenia Project.

Now more than 10 years later,

manatees have made a
huge comeback in Florida,

and the USGS is still doing
health assessments once a year.

But the process has grown
to a bigger operation.

With the cooperation of
dozens of state agencies

and volunteers from
institutions all over the state,

Dr. Bondy is now running
quite an operation.

[upbeat music]

These days,

it takes a lot of help to
conduct the assessments.

Dr. Bondy gives an introduction
to more than 100 volunteers

who are about to have a very long day.

The process begins by setting
a net on a busy section

of Crystal River,

where dozens of manatees
swim by every hour.

[workers chatting]

Soon, a manatee swims into the net,

and the volunteers have to
gently pull him to shore.

Of course, the manatee's scared,

having no way of knowing that
no harm will come to him.

There's no question that people
get wet during this process.

[water splashing]
[workers chatting]

[gentle music]

Next, the volunteers lift
the manatee using a sling

and carry it to a waiting boat.

It's a special manatee rescue
boat designed specifically

with a removable transom

and open stern to allow
getting manatees in and out.

[workers chatting]

They ferry the animal
just a few hundred yards

to a place where there's a
little more space to work.

[gentle music]

Then they carry the manatee
into a nice warm tent.

[gentle music continues]

[workers chatting]

A team of veterinarians descend

to check the manatee's health.

They take its temperature.

[bright music]

They use ultrasound to
measure the thickness

of the fat layer.

A healthy manatee has a
good thick layer of fat

to keep it warm,

but the animals that are
not getting enough to eat

will have a thinner layer.

And this is a good
indication of the health

of not only the individual manatee,

but also the entire manatee population.

They also measure the manatee.

[workers chatting]

And they listen to its lungs.

I watch with interest and
try to stay out of the way.

They do their best to keep
the animal comfortable.

Dr. Bondy helps keep the whole
operation running smoothly.

Meanwhile, the manatee has
moved to a giant scale.

[lively music]

He's calm, but maybe
a little apprehensive.

- [Worker] Nope, not yet.

Still thinking about it.

[workers chatting]

- [Jonathan] Using a winch,

they lift the manatee to get his weight.

Although a typical manatee
weighs around a thousand pounds,

a really big one is too
heavy for this scale,

which has a 2,000 pound limit.

Then, having been out of the
water for only half an hour,

he's carried back to the boat.

[gentle music]

[workers chatting]

They take him out into
the middle of the river

and let him go none the worse for wear,

though perhaps with a
good alien abduction story

for his buddies.

Over the course of the weekend,
they capture, evaluate,

and release 18 manatees.

The next day, I stop in at the USGS office

to catch up with Dr.
Bondy's wife, Kathy Beck,

who's in charge of the
manatee photo ID system

that's been used to
track individual manatees

for more than 40 years.

Sadly, most manatees have
scars from old injuries,

often from encounters with boats.

But these unique scars can
be used like fingerprints

to identify individual manatees.

[gentle music]

The benefit of a photo ID system

is that animals can be tracked
over large periods of time.

They've learned a lot about
manatees with this system.

For example, three
manatees in the database

have been known to swim
all the way to Cape Cod

in Massachusetts.

One female has given birth to 13 calves

over the 40 years she's
been in the database.

They've learned how fast
manatees grow, how far they swim,

and all kinds of useful
information which has been used

to help protect the
species over the years.

The annual manatee assessment

is an important part
of the protection plan,

because a small random sampling of animals

ought to reveal a lot
about the general health

of the population.

And what they're finding out

is that manatees are definitely
on the road to recovery.

In 40 years, the population of manatees

in Florida has risen from 1,000 to 6,000.

That is certainly not a full recovery,

but it shows that the
protections are working,

and the manatee is making a slow comeback,

which is how manatees do most everything

in the blue world.

[bright music]

- [Announcer] Don't go away.

Jonathan and cameraman Tim

are going wreck diving.

- [Jonathan] Once again,

we're setting sail aboard
my favorite dive boat,

the Dolphin Dream.

- [Tim] We're in the northern Bahamas

headed to a wreck called the Sugar Wreck,

located in the middle of nowhere.

- [Jonathan] We anchor up to the wreck,

and from the air, you can
see the shape of the ship.

Cameraman Tim and I
sued up for a long dive.

Tim demonstrates the classic
reverse push entry technique.

- [Tim] It takes years of practice.

[bright music]

- [Jonathan] Soon, we're both on our way.

- [Tim] We meet on the bottom and begin

our exploration of the wreck.

Because it's only 20 feet deep,

our scuba tanks will last a long time,

so we don't have to rush.

- [Jonathan] Cameraman
Bill is filming the dive.

- [Tim] Wait, he took my job!

- [Jonathan] One of the
first things we find

is the anchor.

And it's big.

- [Tim] We also find something
that we think was an engine.

- [Jonathan] But it's
really covered in coral,

so we're not quite sure.

Then Tim finds a pair of
huge cleats called bits,

used to secure mooring lines.

The massive size of these bits illustrates

how large the rope needed to be in order

to secure this vessel.

- [Tim] Since it's so shallow here,

storms have smashed the wreck flat,

so it doesn't look like a ship anymore.

But if you look closely, there
are a lot of things to see.

- [Jonathan] This is not
just a pile of rocks.

- [Tim] What I'm trying
to say with hand signs

is that these are ballast stones

that were placed in
the bottom of the ship.

They made it ride at the
correct height in the water

when it wasn't carrying
a full load of cargo.

[bright music continues]

- [Jonathan] As we swim over
to the other side of the wreck,

we find a ladder,

which was probably used to
get down into the cargo hold.

taken a toll on the steel hull,

bending it flat and breaking
all the ribs in the process.

But it's still easy to
see that this was a ship.

- [Tim] As we swim towards the bow,

we are amazed at how the
marine life has taken over.

[gentle music]

- [Jonathan] Just a hundred yards away,

the sea floor is flat and barren.

There are almost no fish here

because there are no hiding spots.

- [Tim] Since this wreckage is
the only reef-like structure

in the area, it's a magnet for fish.

[bright music]

- [Jonathan] A French angelfish
is nibbling on sponges

that are growing on the ribs.

A school of grunts and snapper

are using the structure for protection.

[bright music continues]

A pair of lionfish, invasive
species here in The Bahamas,

are stalking prey.

- [Tim] I spot something
under one of the masts.

It's a shy nurse shark.

- [Jonathan] Tim gives it a little tickle

to see if it will come out,

but it's scared of my camera.

With lots of sunlight and clear water,

the coral is thriving on the wreck.

Healthy pillar coral

is one of the rarest
sites in the Caribbean,

and a big stand of it like this means

that conditions here are excellent.

- [Tim] As we continue exploring,

we notice a visitor in the distance,

a Caribbean reef shark,
probably here to hunt fish,

is lurking around the perimeter.

[gentle music]

- [Jonathan] She's probably
waiting for us to leave

because our bubbles spook sharks.

- [Tim] She must be really
hungry because after a while,

she works up the courage
to come in closer.

[gentle music continues]

She may even be a little curious about us.

- [Jonathan] It's
incredibly rare for a shark

to come this close without being fed.

And to me, this is a magical encounter

with a beautiful wild animal.

[gentle music continues]

What an awesome shark.

We follow her for a while

to see if we can watch her hunting,

but I think we're cramping her style.

[gentle music continues]

- [Tim] She's never gonna catch a thing

with us hanging around,

so we let her be.

- [Jonathan] It's hard
for me to let her go

because I love sharks.

[gentle music continues]

All these fish are here at the wreck

to have a place to hide
from predators like sharks.

[bright music]

Soon, Tim spots a porcupinefish.

Not only do these fish have spines

for defense like their namesake,

but they're also one of a
relatively small number of fish

that swim not by swishing their tail,

but by flapping their
pelvic and dorsal fins.

[lively music]

- [Tim] The porcupinefish
is not just adorable,

but this particular one is
not afraid of us at all.

So when you come across a
cooperative subject like this,

you definitely take some time and observe.

- [Jonathan] As we follow
it around a little,

we discover that it has a
friend, maybe a girlfriend.

Together, they each take
turns coming up to the camera.

Perhaps they enjoy their
reflection in the lens.

[lively music continues]

- [Tim] They duck into the
protection of the wreck,

and we think they're gone.

But it seems like they went in there

to get the rest of the g*ng.

Now we have six of them gawking at us.

[bright music]

- [Jonathan] I'm not sure
who is watching whom.

[bright music continues]

- [Tim] Eventually the porcupinefish

moves on to other things,

and it's time for us to
head back to the boat.

[bright music]

- [Jonathan] Not all shipwrecks
still look like ships,

but the Sugar Wreck shows that
a shipwreck can create a home

for thousands of fish and invertebrates.

While we often associate
a sinking ship with death,

in fact, these derelicts of human society

become flourishing habitats
of life in the blue world.

[bright music]

[soft music]