The red caribena DE varamientos (caribbean stranding network) (RCV) has since 1989 been the non-profit organization deputized by the puerto rico department of natural and environmental resources…

The Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service awarded a $212,640 Project Grant to Red Caribena De Varamientos Inc. (RCV), a Puerto Rico-based non-profit organization that serves as the sole federally-authorized manatee critical care facility outside the continental United States. This grant was funded under the Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance program (CFDA 15.683), which provides financial assistance for response, rescue, and rehabilitation of protected marine mammals.

The grant will support RCV's efforts to conduct health assessments and radio-tracking studies on the endangered Antillean manatee population in Puerto Rico. Specifically, RCV will capture approximately 20 manatees in the Jobos Bay and San Juan Bay estuaries, evaluate their health status, collect baseline data, and fit each manatee with a satellite radio tag to monitor their movements and habitat use over a one-year period. Local university students will be trained to assist with the fieldwork. RCV will use the findings to guide manatee conservation and protection programs in Puerto Rico in partnership with government agencies.

The red caribena DE varamientos (caribbean stranding network) (RCV) has since 1989 been the non-profit organization deputized by the puerto rico department of natural and environmental resources (prdner) and the US fish and wildlife service (USFWS) to assist in tending to manatee stranding cases in puerto rico (mignucci-giannoni ET AL. 2000) and serve as the only manatee critical care facility outside the continental united states (adimey ET AL. 2012). In doing so, the RCV has partnered with the inter american university in bayamn, puerto rico, to establish the caribbean manatee conservation center (cmcc) to implement species enhancement programs of research, rescue, rehabilitation, and community outreach, consistent with guidelines of the antillean manatee recovery plan for puerto rico (rathbun and possardt 1986).the antillean manatee (trichechus manatus manatus) subspecies is endangered throughout its range due to human-related activities. IT is estimated that less than 700 manatees remain in puerto rico, still threatened by boat collisions and habitat degradation. These detrimental activities, in turn, influence manatee health and their particular use of specific habitats. In order to ascertain the effects of these two factors on the survival of the manatee in puerto rico and to obtain the needed data of overall population health, a health assessment study will be conducted in two important estuarine habitats for the species on the island, jobos BAY and SAN juan BAY. Both estuaries are classified as federal-listed protected areas. Health assessments are a valuable tool to determine fitness, specifically related to environmental and medical issues of any wildlife population. Telemetry tools provide hard evidence of the preference of wildlife for specific habitats and resources (food, water, shelter, etc.) needed for population health and survival. Thus, manatees can be seen as sentinels of coastal and environmental health and for the natural resources that LIE within. A team of trained and experienced biologists and veterinarians will capture about 20 manatees in these island estuaries, medically evaluate their health-related status, and collect basic health data that will assist in treating those that strand alive and have to go into rehabilitation and veterinary care. Local university graduate and undergraduate students will be trained and serve as support personnel during the fieldwork on manatee health assessment and radiotelemetry monitoring. Once examined and samples and baseline health data collected for analysis, each manatee will be fitted with a satellite radio tag and radio-tracked for one year to monitor its movements and habitat preferences. The health status of each manatee will be correlated to their habitat use and environmental health in each of these estuary sites.an assessment of threats will be ascertained to determine the extent of anthropogenic impacts on the antillean manatee population in these ecologically important areas. Periodic progress reports and a final report will be shared among cooperating institutions and agencies to use the findings for wildlife and environmental conservation programs and manatee protection efforts in their jurisdictional area. The goals and objectives of this specific project, as detailed in the notice of funding opportunity priorities, are as follows. Currently, the cmcc should focus on improving the collection and archiving of specimens to support studies of life history parameters, threats, and overall population health of antillean manatees. In the 2023 prescott RFP, for priority 2 (transport for live strandings of manatees, including equipment costs, rescue transport trucks, and contracts for transport (air or land transport)), the project objective is: acquire an auxiliary rescue and post-release monitoring boat to assist in rescues and population health assessments of antillean manatees.