1. Mission

2. History

3. Structure

4. Partners

5. Core functions

6. Post-release monitoring and the original MRP

7. Financial considerations

8. References

The Manatee Rescue & Rehabilitation Partnership (MRP) is a cooperative group of non-profit, private, state, and federal entities dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, release, and post-release monitoring of manatees.

Mission

“To inspire and advance manatee conservation by partnering cooperatively in manatee rescue, rehabilitation, release, and monitoring efforts; improve understanding of manatee biology and health through scientific research; and promote stewardship and financial support through public education.”^[1]

History

The federal endangered species list classifies the Florida manatee as “threatened”.^[2] Although the US Endangered Species Act of 1973 designated the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as responsible for federal management of this species,^[3] the State of Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), with input from USFWS, largely manages the daily coordination of rescuing, carcass retrieval and necropsy of manatees.^[4] State funding provided by the Save the Manatee Trust Fund funds the bulk of wild manatee conservation work and is supported by very limited federal funding contributions.^[5] Rehabilitation is handled by a network of primary acute care and secondary hold facilities inside and outside Florida through a combination of private and state funds. Around 2012, USFWS re-prioritized its goals and resources related to the recovery of manatees and reduced its role in day-to-day management of manatees to an advisory capacity only. Workshops were held with the involved stakeholders involved in manatee rescue and rehabilitation to obtain buy-in and to design the new management structure. This resulted in creation of the MRP as a self-governing entity for overseeing rescue, rehabilitation, release and monitoring of Florida manatees.{{cn|date=December 2018}}

Structure

The new structure consists of a chairman and co-chairman elected from the membership, subcommittees with a chairman or co-chairs to conduct the daily business of the MRP, and a steering committee composed of the MRP chairs as well as the chairs of each of the subcommittees. The current subcommittees include Rescue/Rehabilitation, Release, Monitoring, Veterinary, and Education/Outreach. Working groups can be created at the discretion of the chairs to address particular issues which need extra attention. All subcommittees have open membership with the exception of the vet committee and all facilities and partners are encouraged to participate in the subcommittees and take leadership roles on a rotating basis to both chair the MRP and also the subcommittees to insure that pressing business gets conducted in a timely manner. The current iteration of the MRP was created as a self-governing entity as a result of a reduction in Federal resources and change in focus away from overseeing the manatee rehabilitation program around 2012. Workshops were held to obtain buy in from all partners and to design the new structure which consists of subcommittees and a steering committee. Biannual meetings are held of the entire membership in the fall and spring each year. Because it is a self governing entity, the MRP requires participation from all members in order to insure conduct business and function efficiently. All subcommittees have open membership with the exception of the vet committee and all facilities and partners are encouraged to participate in the subcommittees and take leadership roles on a rotating basis to both chair the MRP and also the subcommittees to insure that pressing business gets conducted in a timely manner.

Partners

The participating acute care facilities are SeaWorld Orlando, ZooTampa, Miami Seaquarium, Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens and Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. The current holding facilities include: South Florida Museum/Parker Aquarium, The Seas at EPCOT, Cincinnati Zoo, and Columbus Zoo. Other members include U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Sea2Shore Alliance, [https://www.usgs.gov/news/magical-manatees U. S. Geological Survey Sirenia Project], Mote Marine Laboratory, Save the Manatee Club, Pittsburgh Zoo and Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Additional collaborators which help expand program resources are Dauphin Island Sealab and Audubon Zoo.

Core functions

The MRP manages the day to activities related to rescuing, rehabilitating, releasing and monitoring sick and injured Florida manatees. Rescue coordination is provided by FWC with input and participation from other program partners. Acute care rehabilitation is provided by the acute care facilities. When animals are stable and no longer receiving medical care, they are sometimes housed in secondary holding facilities to gain weight and await appropriate conditions for release back into the wild. When an animal is ready for release, their information is provided to the release committee who coordinates logistics of releasing each manatees. Manatees that are considered naïve without appropriate wild experience are often tagged with satellite tags and monitored for a period of one year to insure that they are adjusted well to being released. These high risk manatees can then be easily observed and captured if necessary to ensure they are in sufficiently good health to survive using parameters established by experts in manatee health.^[6] The group who currently provides these services is Sea2Shore Alliance. There is a group of veterinary experts who provide input on medical and health related issues as required to help insure success during all phases of the program. Additional support is provided by the Education and Outreach committee by managing the MRP website, assisting with educational materials, and managing press releases related to MRP functions and activities. The outreach component provides a valuable source of public relations for the members of the MRP who receive positive press for their contributions to the program.^[7][8]

Post-release monitoring and the original MRP

The ability to monitor the success of native manatees released back into the wild is considered to be critical to their survival and often requires additional intervention.^[9] This task used to be performed as part of federal and state efforts to recover the species. However, in the early 2000s, funding on the state and federal levels was no longer available to support these efforts. The first iteration of the MRP came into being called the Manatee Rehabilitation Partnership. The sole purpose of the group was to fund and direct post-release monitoring efforts of manatees. At the time, the USFWS was still managing the daily activities around manatee rescue, rehabilitation and release and the original MRP filled the gap to cover monitoring efforts. A group of experts working under Wildlife Trust conducted the initial tagging and tracking. The same experts have remained involved for the duration of both iterations of the MRP however they now work under Sea2Shore Alliance. Many of the partners of the original MRP are still partners of the current version as well as some additional facilities that provide manatee care that were not operating during the early 2000s.{{cn|date=December 2018}}

Financial considerations

The budget of the MRP is provided almost entirely by inside contributions from the members of the MRP, in particular the facilities that treat and house manatees with non-facility entities usually contributing in-kind services. It is very expensive to track and monitor manatees post-release so this function has historically made up the bulk of the MRP's operating expenses. An increase in the number of manatees requiring tracking in recent years has strained the resources of the MRP which hopes to pursue additional outside funding as coordinated by its finance subcommittee. The cost of a single manatee satellite tag can exceed $7,500. This is for the hardware only and does not include satellite time or the labor-intensive field tracking effort that must accompany the satellite data. These financial constraints limit the number of manatees that can be tagged each year which in turn impacts capacity at the participating facilities.

References

• Ponnala Laxmiah
• Ponnambalam-Coomaraswamy Family
• Ponnambalam Nagalingam
• Ponnambalam–Coomaraswamy family
• Ponnambala Thyaga Rajan Palanivel Rajan
• Ponnam Mangalam
• Ponnampet
• Ponnam Prabhakar
• Ponnam Prabhakar Goud
• Ponnani, India
• Ponnani (Lok Sabha constituency)
• Ponnani Taluk
• Ponnani taluk
• Ponnappan Nadar
• Ponnar Sankar
• Ponnar Shankar
• Ponna University
• Ponnavarayankottai
• Ponneelan
• Ponnekallu
• Ponneri (SC) (State Assembly Constituency)
• Ponneri (state assembly constituency)
• Ponneri taluk
• Ponner Sankar
• Ponner shankar