THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 2, 1996 TAG: 9607020235
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 60 lines
The people who went dolphin watching over the weekend on a Virginia Marine Science Museum boat got a surprise on returning to Rudee Inlet.
A bewhiskered snout popped to the surface near the floating dock at the Virginia Beach Fishing Center, and snorted in some air.
And so on Saturday, Virginia Beach's first manatee of the season had been spotted.
``He came up three times for air,'' Alice Scanlon, the museum's marketing and public relations director, said Monday. ``I was pretty excited. It was the first manatee I had ever seen.''
Although a small number of manatees has been spotted each year since the early 1990s, this is one of the earliest sightings and the first for Rudee Inlet, said Susan Barco, research technician for the museum.
It is rare, she said, because itwould have had to arrive from the ocean, something manatees are not known for doing. Normally, manatees follow the protected waters of the Intracoastal Waterway in their annual migrations.
Barco said the manatee was probably attracted to the inlet's sea grasses and to fresh water flowing to the ocean.
Manatees, a threatened species with only 2,000 to 3,000 remaining, winter every year along the coast of Florida. But they venture north each summer in search of feeding grounds, returning as the water gets colder in autumn.
Manatees might be following the growth of new spartina grass as they move along the coast, speculates James Reid, a biologist at the Sirenia Project of the Southeastern Biological Service Center in Gainesville, Fla.
``New growing forage may be better for them than the older grasses,'' he said Monday.
The first European settlers in the Chesapeake Bay region reported seeing manatees, Reid said. ``It's a good sign for the species that they are following historical migratory routes.''
The Coast Guard reported the appearance of a manatee last week in the Elizabeth River near Craney Island Creek. This could have been the same one that was spotted Saturday, making its way around the tip of Virginia Beach. Or it could have gone out into the sea near Oregon Inlet on North Carolina's Outer Banks, Reid said.
Probably the best-known manatee to come through Hampton Roads is Chessie, the creature that has been spotted as far north as Rhode Island.
The Sirenia Project - Sirenia is the scientific name for the species - reports that Chessie crossed the Florida-Georgia border June 12.
``Since June 23, he has been working his way through South Carolina's coastal waters,'' a Sirenia fact sheet says. ``If we measure his progress against his record swim to Rhode Island last year, he is about one week behind schedule.''
Barco, the Marine Science Museum research technician, urges that anyone seeing a manatee report the sighting to the Stranding Hot Line at 437-4961.
``We certainly want to hear from anyone who spots one,'' she said. ``Stay away from it and give us a call.''
Manatees, which must surface for air, are highly susceptible to strikes by boats and their propellers, Barco said.
``The best folks can do is watch from a distance and leave them alone.'' ILLUSTRATION: FILE PHOTO by CNB