conserve West Indian manatees. The contractor is conducting 

 a pilot study to determine whether DNA fingerprinting may 

 provide a useful tool for determining the familial relationships 

 of individual manatees and the relative discreteness of manatee 

 populations in different geographic areas. If study results 

 are promising, the Commission will recommend that the Fish 

 and Wildlife Service conduct or support follow-on studies to 

 further evaluate and utilize the technique. 



Workshop on Possible Cooperative Efforts To Develop a Geographic 

 Information System To Assist in Managing Manatee Habitat 

 (J.E. Reynolds, III, Ph.D., Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, 

 Florida) 



A broad range of population, habitat, and other data must 

 be assessed to identify and resolve conservation problems 

 regarding marine mammals and the ecosystems of which they are 

 a part. The compilation, storage, integration, and accessing 

 of such data can be facilitated by the use of a Geographic 

 Information System, a computerized system for organizing, 

 storing, and accessing data with geographic attributes. A 

 Geographic Information System for manatee-related information 

 could incorporate data on such things as: manatee abundance 

 and mortality; seagrass beds; warm-water refugia; marinas; 

 and boat speed zones. To help evaluate the possible costs 

 and benefits of developing a Geographic Information System 

 for manatees, the Commission provided funds for a workshop 

 to: review the state of the art and identify Geographic 

 Information Systems currently being used by Federal and State 

 agencies and private organizations involved in manatee 

 conservation; determine how existing systems might be improved 

 or integrated to make existing data more accessible and useful; 

 and identify possible cost-effective alternatives to systems 

 currently being used. The workshop, to be held in March 

 1989, will include experts on the development and use of 

 Geographic Information Systems and representatives of State, 

 Federal, and private organizations with responsibilities 

 bearing on the conservation of manatees in Florida. The 

 workshop report will be provided to Federal and State agencies 

 to assist in determining how cooperative development or 

 integration of Geographic Information Systems could be used 

 to help them meet their manatee-related responsibilities. 



Assessment of Techniques for Estimating the Age of Manatees 

 (S.R. Humphrey, Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, 

 Florida) 



There are many unresolved questions concerning the 

 population biology and dynamics of manatees. One question, 

 that of the relationship between age and survival/reproductive 



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