Florida Manatee Synoptic Aerial Survey 1991-2011
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission - Fish and Wildlife Research Institute

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission - Fish and Wildlife Research Institute

The word “synoptic” means presenting a general view of the whole. The current manatee synoptic survey is a count of manatees over a broad area. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) uses these surveys to obtain a general count of manatees statewide. The FWC coordinates an interagency team that conducts the synoptic surveys from one to three times each year (weather permitting). The synoptic surveys are conducted in winter and cover all of the known wintering habitats of manatees in Florida. The survey is conducted to meet Florida state statute 370.12 (4), which requires an annual, impartial, scientific benchmark census of the manatee population. From 1991 through 2011, the counts have been conducted 27 times. These statewide, interagency surveys are currently conducted during the coldest weather of the year (January through March) when manatees move to warm-water sites, such as natural springs, thermal discharges from power and industrial plants, and deep canals. The ideal conditions for the current synoptic survey are cool weather, following a prolonged period of cold weather (usually following multiple cold fronts), low winds, and bright sunshine. Weather conditions and manatee behavior during the survey have a large effect on the synoptic counts. For that reason, the counts are used as indicators of relative abundance within a year and are not suitable for assessing long-term population trends. Counts can vary depending on whether it is warm or cold, sunny or cloudy, calm or windy. Manatees are more easily counted a few days after a cold front when it is slightly warmer, clear, and windless. A warming trend with sunny, windless conditions following cold weather increases the likelihood that manatees will be resting at the water's surface, where observers can easily spot them.

To obtain a general (minimum) count of manatees statewide.

Prior to July 1, 2004, the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) was known as the Florida Marine Research Institute (FMRI).
The times are not recorded with this dataset, so 00:00:00 was filled and noted in the [Notes] field.
7/22/2011: This dataset, originally containing data from 1991-2008, was updated to include 2009-2011 data.

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Overview

Attributes described below represent those in the original dataset provided by the provider.
Only minimum required attributes are visible and downlodable online. Other attributes may be obtained upon provider's permission unless otherwise noteded below.

This section explains attributes included in the original dataset. OBIS-SEAMAP restricts the attributes available to the public to date/time, lat/lon and species names/counts only. Should you need other attributes described here, you are encouraged to contact the data provider.

Attributes in dataset provided

Attribute (table column)	Description
oid	Unique ID (created by SEAMAP)
surv_id	Survey ID
loc_id	Location ID
obs_date	Observed date
year	Observed year
month	Observed month
day	Observed day
adults	Number of adults
calves	Number of calves
obs_count	Total number of animals observed
obs_time	Observed time
sp_tsn	Species ITIS TSN
county	Observed county
coast	Observed coast
state	Observed state
subpop	Subpopulation
agg_site
sp_obs	Species Observed
notes	Notes for when time was not available and "00:00:00" was filled
latitude	Observed latitude
longitude	Observed longitude