Additional assistance from the Commission was not 

 needed, however, because of the extremely thorough and 

 comprehensive series of investigations initiated by the 

 staff of the Fish and Wildlife Service's Sirenia Project in 

 Gainesville. Under their direction, investigators and 

 laboratories in a number of states were called upon to 

 examine a wide variety of organs, tissue samples, blood, and 

 stomach contents. Although an absolutely certain diagnosis 

 of the cause of mortality could not be determined, the 

 preponderance of evidence suggested that the cause was 

 poisoning from ingestion of tunicates, small, sessile marine 

 chordates, which concentrate red tide toxins and produce a 

 toxin of their own. Tunicates were found in a large number 

 of the manatee stomachs. 



In 1981, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 

 Sanctuary Programs Office contracted with Chelsea International 

 Corporation to identify coastal and offshore areas that 

 would qualify, from a scientific standpoint, as national 

 marine sanctuaries under the Marine Protection, Research, 

 and Sanctuaries Act of 1972. On 14 June 1982, the Commission 

 was asked to comment on seven sites in the Gulf of Mexico. 

 One site, the Big Bend Seagrass Beds off the northwest coast 

 of Florida, includes a portion of the critical migratory 

 corridor connecting summer and winter habitats for the 

 Crystal River manatee population as well as important manatee 

 feeding areas. 



After consultations with its Committee of Scientific 

 Advisors, the Commission commented on the Big Bend Seagrass 

 Beds site on 29 July, noting, among other points, during 

 the summer months, after manatees leave winter refuges at 

 Crystal River and Homosassa Springs, they disperse along the 

 northwest coast of Florida particularly between the 

 Chassahowitzka and Steinhatchee Rivers; the nearshore seagrass 

 beds along this stretch of coast provide migratory, feeding, 

 and resting areas for manatees in summer months while sheltered 

 creeks and bayous are used as calving areas; protection of 

 these summer habitats is essential for maintaining and 

 continuing recent growth of the northwest Florida manatee 

 population; and because of intensive manatee research and 

 management efforts conducted along the northwest coast of 

 Florida by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the State of 

 Florida, and others over the past 15 years, the establishment 

 of the sanctuary offers a unique opportunity to complement 

 future State and Federal research and management activities. 

 In view of these comments, the Commission recommended that 

 future deliberations on designating the site as a national 

 marine sanctuary consider potential contributions to manatee- 

 related research and management objectives and that the 



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