Denise Boyd, researcher with the  Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, shares with us the dangers faced by manatees, dolphins and whales in Southwest Florida from collisions with boats.

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This last presentation is something that I don't know a lot about, so it

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was really cool to learn some from it.

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So here is Denise Boyd.

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She just talked about documenting signs of

sharp trauma in Cetaceans and Sirenians.

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Thank you for being here.

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Denise Boyd: Thank you.

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Thank you for having me.

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Um, yep.

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My name is Denise Boyd.

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I work for the Florida Fish and

Wildlife Conservation Commission.

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I'm in their wildlife

research institute division.

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The research section in marine mammals.

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And my job is specific to response

to sinrenians, which serve manatees

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and cetaceans, which are dolphins

and whales in southwest Florida.

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Those are my primary job duties

and the majority of the animals

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we encounter are deceased.

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And so we evaluate these animals as

they come in and conduct an animal

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autopsy, which is called a necropsy.

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And we do as part of that, an external

examination and we document any wounds or

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lesions and the way they present and the

orientation of their pre presentation.

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And when animals have been negatively

impacted, specifically marine mammals,

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if they're impacted by a vessel, it will

leave a very distinct series of wounds or

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injuries on an animal's back or its skin.

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And so what I talked about today is

just how to document, photograph, and

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report out on those types of injuries.

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So for example, a propeller will make

a series of linear to slightly curved

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lacerations in an order or a series.

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They're roughly equidistant

apart, so they measure like two

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centimeters apart consistently.

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And you'll

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record and photograph and measure those

wounds, and then you look internally

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and document any underlying injuries.

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So often associated with animals

that have been impacted by a vessel

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while alive, when you look underneath

those wounds you'll find blood

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clots, torn in hemorrhagic muscle.

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You'll actually see the muscles will

curl once they're torn or lacerated by

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say a, a boat propeller.

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And so I presented on that, that some

of those vessel or watercraft parts

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that project out like a propeller,

a boat shaft, a scag, a rudder, can

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cause sharp trauma on a marine mammal.

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That there's also the possibility

that they're impacted by blunt forces.

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So the underside of the boat, which

is the hull at the front, it's the

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bow or the back, it's the stern.

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The broad impact and blunt force

at a vessel that's going very

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fast can also cause significant

damage without any sharp trauma.

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It would be all blunt.

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So that has the capacity, specifically

in manatees, to fracture ribs.

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Those ribs can then be pushed internally

and damage a lung and damage an abdomen

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and cause a lot of internal organ damage.

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And so they may look fine on the surface.

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They may have just a small scrape or

superficial injury, but all of the

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force of the blunt hull impact has been

translated deeper into the animal, and

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you'll see these injuries inside that

are consistent with a vessel interaction.

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So that's mostly what I

talked about for today.

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DrG: How can this information help

us with preventing these injuries?

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Denise Boyd: So in Florida specifically,

there are speed zones that are set for in

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areas where manatees are in high numbers.

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And so boaters have to

go at slower speeds.

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So they do not impact those.

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So if we have animals that are found

repeatedly in an area that should be slow

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speed zone, we can make recommendations

to law enforcement that maybe the

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area is not seeing a high level of

compliance with those speed zones.

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So it's important for us to document

these injuries and where the

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animals are coming in that present

with those types of injuries.

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Or conversely, if we have an area that

we're seeing a lot of mortality and there

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isn't a speed zone in place, should we

make a recommendation to put one in?

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So it's primarily to, to help keep

the number of animals that are dying

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due to these, uh, interactions lower.

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DrG: Excellent.

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Well, this has been super informational

and educational, so thank you so much for

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being here, and thank you for what you do.

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Denise Boyd: All right.

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Thank you.