Mobile manatee study launched

MOBILE, Ala. - Up to two dozen manatees make their summer homes in Mobile Bay and the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, and researchers want fishermen, boaters and beachgoers to help find them this week. Over the next few days, Dauphin Island Sea Lab scientists will be joined by about six Florida experts as they scour the area in an airplane, three boats and on foot to look for manatees. The effort is part of the Mobile Manatee Sighting Network's ongoing study of Alabama's seasonal manatee population, which scientists say has increased. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/18/09)