In the southeastern US manatees are found in rivers bays or estuaries with submerged aquatic vegetation

No known resident population of manatees exists in south carolina. Rather manatees have historically migrated to south carolina from florida during warm summer months. The first reports of manatees in south carolina date back to the mid 1800S. Between 1850 and 1992 less than 60 sightings were reported over the 142 year period. A dedicated surveillance project for manatees began in 1993 and since then almost 1900 sightings have been reported in the state. Recent sightings data indicate manatees have been arriving earlier and staying longer despite arrival of cooler fall and winter temperatures likely because of increased availability of industrial warm water outfalls and potential presence of food sources. Sightings reports of individuals in residence in south carolina during periods of low surrounding ambient temperatures are at risk of cold stress and related mortality. Therefore there is an increasing need to build a south carolina based response network to assist the charleston USFWS field office via call response field assistance and data collection. Additional duties will include assisting the agency s office of environmental programs OEP to provide input to regulatory agencies publishing and evaluating permits and license applications that may impact the resource. These actions are needed to achieve manatee recovery plan actions. The south carolina department of natural resources project goal is to increase south carolinas capacity via staff training in rescue and response of injured debilitated or dead manatees in south carolina and to provide public call response data management and technical review for south carolina stranding events and environmental permit applications. Our specific project objectives INCLUDE1.enhancing stranding response capability in south carolina for reports of injured debilitated or dead manatees via a dedicated position to coordinate responses to REPORTS2. Enhancing south carolina field resource availability with carcass recovery and collection of data utilizing trained staff biologists and creation of a south carolina manatee response network AND3. Enhancing south carolina capabilities for support to USFWS and FWC rescue efforts with live captures of individuals.