Save The Manatee Club

Save the Manatee Club was established in 1981 by former Florida Governor Bob Graham and singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett. SMC was started so the public could participate in conservation efforts to save endangered manatees from extinction.

SMC is a membership-based, national nonprofit organization. Funds from the Adopt-A-Manatee program go toward public awareness and education projects; manatee research; rescue and rehabilitation efforts; advocacy and legal action in order to ensure better protection for manatees and their habitat. Currently, there are about 40,000 SMC members.

The Save the Manatee Club also is known for its Adopt-A-Manatee program. Funds from this innovative program are used to fund manatee rescue, rehabilitation and research efforts in the United States and the wider Caribbean; to support manatee education and public awareness projects; and to protect manatees and their habitat through advocacy and legal action.

The Club has over 700 volunteers working in Florida and throughout the U.S. SMC volunteers staff tables at manatee-related events, help out in the SMC offices, write letters and send e-mails on issues of concern to manatees, and report information to manatee researchers.

Each year, SMC sends out press releases on manatee issues to local, state and national media. Jimmy Buffett also records public service announcements that are distributed to radio and television stations throughout the United States. SMC staff handle many requests for manatee information, and the Club maintains a toll-free telephone number for this purpose. In addition, SMC maintains a Web site on the Internet, and SMC staff answer e-mail questions about manatees from the public.

SMC also produces public awareness waterway signs that alert boaters to the presence of manatees

. The signs are distributed free to Florida shoreline property owners through Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission district offices. Additionally, SMC produces waterproof decals for boats that have tips on how to reduce manatee injury and death. In conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Florida Audubon Society, SMC has produced brochures highlighting the problems associated with feeding manatees. All three of the above projects have been funded in part by the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund.

In addition, SMC has created a brochure with manatee protection tips for divers, swimmers and boaters with support from the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI)'s Project Aware Foundation and the USFWS. SMC and the Army Corps of Engineers produced a brochure with tips for boaters to help reduce manatee mortalities at Florida's canal lock structures. SMC also produces outdoor signs discussing the problems of feeding, touching and giving manatees water that have been distributed at manatee viewing areas throughout Florida.

SMC provides free manatee education packets and staff interviews for students. An educator's guide, four-color poster, and coloring and activity book are distributed free to educators across the U.S. and internationally, as well as a video entitled Manatee Messages: What You Can Do!

The Save the Manatee Club has funded studies of manatees in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Mexico, funded a tracking program of manatees in Belize and a program to educate villagers in Nicaragua and has given funds to the Caribbean Stranding Network in Puerto Rico to care for orphaned manatees. SMC has also provided health assessment support for manatees in Belize, Colombia, Venezuela, Jamaica and Mexico.

The Club has provided supplementary food for three captive manatees in Jamaica and also helped to monitor a Florida manatee in the Bahamas. It has produced educational materials that have been distributed in South America and the Wider Caribbean. In addition, SMC staff have been appointed to the I.U.C.N. -- World Conservation Union.

The Save the Manatee Club has provided funds for equipment used in manatee rescue and rehabilitation efforts, including nets, an isolation pool, a manatee care building and diving equipment. It has also helped fund a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service project to help re-acclimate manatees to the wild and donated funds to help build a shelter for injured manatees awaiting transport in the Florida Keys.

The Club also provides funding for manatee rescue organizations both in and outside of Florida. In 1996, SMC contributed funding for equipment, aerial surveys and manatee care and feeding during the red tide epizootic in southwest Florida. In addition, SMC has donated seven boats and trailers to various agencies and organizations for manatee rescue and research purposes.

SMC has been part of the U.S. Manatee Recovery Team and has participated in drafting and revising

g the Florida Manatee Recovery Plan. Club staff also serve on the state of Florida's Manatee Technical Advisory Council and make recommendations on many state and local task forces.

SMC staff have reviewed plans, made recommendations and lobbied to implement manatee protection in Florida's "key" manatee counties. SMC has provided comments on permit applications for marine events and coastal development. SMC staff address manatee issues before Florida's Governor and Cabinet and state and federal regulatory agency heads. In addition, SMC continues to lobby for a strong federal Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act.