Flying Drones and Manatees

[Manateeman]

There was a study of how marine mammals reacted to four motor recreational drones. Dolphins roll on their sides, take a look then return to what they were doing. Curious probably about the noise but not disturbed.
Manatees FREAK OUT. They paddle away as fast as they can and head to deep water. They don’t return to the area they were in.
Please...please do not fly your drone near manatees.
It’s a Federal Crime to disturb manatees. If you see someone doing this just call the police, they will contact the Feds and you can even get a reward if it’s a known offender. This post is not a joke.
There are a lot of protected species and disturbing them can get you in real trouble. Nesting seabirds for example.
Learning something about the creatures you share the marine and coastal environment with can be interesting and great to share with children or guests.
If you stomp around like Godzilla, remember the enforcement rangers carry guns.
Happy trails to you.
Captain Mark and his bazooka armed manatee crew.
(It only shoots pizza like a tee shirt gun and it’s far from being dangerous...don’t tell my crew that... the pizza delivery girl gets great tips when she fakes fainting)

[seandepagnier]

people need to fly their drones over manatees. Are you seriously suggesting that people will willingly give this up? We also know that propellers harm manatees, but they are allowed to continue.

Consider electrostatic lifting drones which fly silently. Yes they have a shorter flight time, but it will be possible to ethically continue to spy on manatees.

As far as crashing the drones into the water, are there any requirements that drones float?

[Manateeman]

We were confused as to where to post this warning about illegal drone flying and manatees. We thought the minute we noted that a marine mammal would flee from the noise of a four motor recreational drone, all the sailors who are convinced Orcas are out to eat them...well they all go out and buy drone.
My manatee crew changed the ringtone on my cell phone to the sound of a drone taking off. The shenanigans have just begun.
Captain Mark
Who had a crew but now only has a note reading “Good by. We’re headed to the Federal Law Enforcement School in Georgia. See ya later, gator.”

[Jim Cate]

Mark, I don't have experience with manatees,but their cousins, the dugongs, spend the vast majority of their time well below the surface of the water. If that is true for your crew as well, how the hell do they hear the low volume sounds of a drone, well above the water's surface? And how about the pretty similar sounds of a small outboard at high revs, a sound that originates IN the water and propagates for some distance? Does that freak them out too?

Just curious... no skin in the game, for I'm in the wrong ocean and don't play with drones.

Jim

[Manateeman]

Well manatees and probably Dugongs have excellent hearing. Scientists actually know not only the range of frequencies but at what amplitude they respond.
They trained a manatee to push one button if the frequency remained the same and another if it changed. At some frequencies they do better than humans.
Think...manatees are related to elephants.
Well they can hear underwater and they can discriminate sound amplitude and direction. For example, they can hear a big sports fishing boat coming at them but often it’s in a narrow channel and they can’t paddle away fast enough.
Remember they sleep on the bottom for 15 minutes at a time, come up and take a deep breath and drift back down to sleep. They exchange a far greater percent of their lung volume than humans.
They do have a strong reaction to pressure waves in the water. The noise coming from drones might set off this violent reaction because of frequency or it might be because it is “attacking” from above. They are very intelligent and will not be disturbed if they have experienced the specific noise before...for example, boats moving slowly in a marina they visit on a regular basis...no problem.
Here you have two marine mammals with very different reactions. This is not the first written observation of marine mammals and sound. For that, read the log books of whalers from 100+ years ago. They muffled their oars and greased their oarlocks because Sperm whales not only sank boats and deliberately killed men, they would bite the boat in half.
Disturbing a manatee might get you arrested. Waking up a sleeping Sperm Whale might get you killed. Moby Dick was based on a true story.
Captain Mark

[Fore and Aft]

Jimbo it's nothing to do with the noise it's all about the manatees being in some serious debt to the pizza company and they are sending out drones to collect payment. I heard they offered to swap some "grass" for pizzas and obviously there was some confusion about what type of "grass" it was. Now manatees are going mental because they are being chased by debt collecting drones.
Cheers
https://blog.splitwise.com/2014/04/0...on-and-square/

[Tetepare]

Make a claim, post a link to publication.

I did a search and all I found was dozens of research papers by government and university researchers using drones for “uninvasive” surveillance.

I’m not a stickler for peer reviewed papers, I’m more interested in the author’s credibility. So pick a good one.

Ps dugong tastes horrible, like whale.

[seandepagnier]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

Make a claim, post a link to publication.

I did a search and all I found was dozens of research papers by government and university researchers using drones for “uninvasive” surveillance.

youtube is full of birds attacking drones for various reasons like hovering over the nest

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by seandepagnier

youtube is full of birds attacking drones for various reasons like hovering over the nest

What? Birds interfering with my right to fly a drone wherever I want? Say it isn’t so and arm those drones

Sigh

[RaymondR]

About sixty years ago I spent about eight months fishing with my father in a place called Harvey Bay in Queensland. We were on the water almost every day and observed dugongs at least a couple of times a week.

In twenty years of cruising in waters which should be populated by dugongs I have only had two sightings. The dugong situation appear dire and I suspect the culprit might be the extensive prawn (shrimp) trawling which has taken place over the sea grass beds where the dugongs grazed and which are also the prawning grounds.

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by seandepagnier

youtube is full of birds attacking drones for various reasons like hovering over the nest

That’s nice, but this is about drones and manatee. Did you find any videos about manatees attacking drones?

OP claimed that scientists reported the phenomenon all I asked for was a reputable reference.

[El Pinguino]

Only one way to deal with drones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va_HRtGa7qQ

[Manateeman]

OH REALLY! Manateeman and his blubber butt crew are now demanded to produce evidence of the truth in statements they make on marine mammal SCIENCE. What a hoot ! But OK.
The Great Manatee Crew ...inventors of the Pizza Bazooka...Boatbuilders to the Stars...Professional Mariners but still Shenanigan Experts...Floating Billboards for Trump Artists...Speedbumps for Jet Skis and most of all...Methane producers without equal..
Graciously...the crew will help out. Open your Google and go to Frontiers in Marine Science. The find the subsection : Marine Megafauna. Then type in the following hints. Manatees. Drones. Response. Next the date. 12 September 2018.
The paper begins with Bottlenose Dolphins but keep reading.
The crew voted to give out a sneak peek for free. (Well they are actually naked most of the time) additional marine mammal research is available for pizza coupons, gift cards or beer.
Happy trails to you.
Captain Mark

[Rumrace]

I love my drones. Great fun. I have disturbed wildlife with them to prove to the city we had a dangerous Coywolf pack. Didn’t work. University lent me a trip camera it worked

Drone trip. Do not hit the sail taking a selfie.
They don’t float.