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An increase in ecotourism has led to greater boat traffic, which kills
or injures
a large number of manatees. Today, their numbers are dwindling. The
manatees
will always be in danger of local extinction until boat traffic through
this
important habitat decreases.
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| Habitat
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The canals and coastal waterways along the northern Caribbean Coast of
Costa
Rica are home to a small population of West Indian Manatees (Trichechus
manatus).
They flourished in this area until about 1974, when several changes
in their habitat caused a drastic reduction in the population. First,
the
dredging and building of a national series of canals which connect
Limón
and Barra
del Colorado.
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| Endangered
Species |
Ironically, manatees are being threatened by conservation designed to
save
a single species: the green turtle. Although manatees have returned to
the
area, they are in between a steadily expanding agricultural frontier to
the
west (banana plantations), and green turtle ecotourism from the east.
Manatees
are caught in the middle.
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| Education
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Literature
& eBooks
Children's Classic Literature
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Costa Rica's Manatees
A truly cute-looking Costa Rican mammal is the manatee, which looks
like
a walrus except that it doesn't have any tusks. This chubby swimmer
once
inhabited several waterways in Costa Rica and in many areas of the
American
continent. However, it was hunted almost to extinction because of its
tender
meat and its hide. Today, it can only be found near the South of the
United
States and in a few places of Central America. §
| Trichechus manatus |
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Recently claimed to be extinct in Costa Rica, a population of manatees
has
been located in the rivers and lagoons adjacent to the world famous
green
turtle nesting beach at Tortuguero National Park.
Manatees are also being protected at the Gandoca Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge.
The rediscovery of a manatee population is very significant, because it
shows
the importance of this particular location as a preferred habitat.
Fast motor boats full of tourists heading to the
beaches of Tortuguero (to
see the turtles) race through the lagoons, rivers and canals from Moin
to
Tortuguero and sometimes collide with slow moving manatees.
More importantly,
they scare manatees away and chase them to the backwaters, where
motorized
boats do not go. Pesticides used on banana plantations kill fish and
may
be causing aquatic changes, especially in these shallow backwater areas.
Manatees are another potential ecotourism attraction
that
can produce much needed revenue and jobs for the community. Because
manatees
rely on the lagoons and canals behind the beach, this important habitat
must
be protected from continued development of banana plantations and road
construction. §
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