Mayers works to protect manatees

Lands End resident Tom Mayers informed Town Manager Dave Bullock in a July 9 email that manatees need more protection than ever around Longboat Key.

In a photo he received from kayakers in Longboat Pass that he sent to Town Manager Dave Bullock and the Longboat Key Town Commission, 14 manatees were seen in the area over the July 4 holiday weekend at a time when an estimated 250 boats were in the water.

“We should do everything that we can to protect the wildlife here on Longboat Key so that residents and visitors can enjoy views like this in the future,” Mayers wrote in a July 8 email to Bullock.

Commissioner Pat Zunz responded to the email by saying there’s “a record number of manatees in the bay, the inlets and the canals this year.”

Last month, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Agency told Mayers that signs warning boaters about manatees in the water are allowed off the shores of Longboat Key and are controlled by the town’s jurisdiction.

Mayers has acquired some manatee signs from Save the Manatees and will now post them on and near docks on the north end of the Key.

“Thanks to Tom Mayers bringing much needed attention to this,” wrote Zunz in her email.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].