New Webcams Launch for Manatee Viewing at Florida Spring

Cover photo for illustrative purposes only. Photo by Scotto Bear | Flickr

According to a February 20, 2024 press release from Save the Manatee Club, a non-profit organization founded by the late Jimmy Buffet, a set of brand-new underwater and above-water webcams have gone live at Silver Springs State Park in Ocala, Florida.

A collaboration between Save the Manatee Club, Explore.org, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's interpretative program, the new webcams add to existing cameras at Blue Spring State Park in Orange City and Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, offering additional viewing opportunities into the manatees and other wildlife that flock to Silver Springs' waters.

The above-water camera is a stationary pan/tilt/zoom camera that will show manatees and other wildlife from an above water viewpoint, while the new underwater webcam provides viewers with a brand new, 180-degree viewing experience. Viewers can also move the cameras around to try and spot other various fish swimming among the manatees.

The Silver River, which originates at Silver Springs, provides important habitat for manatees and many other species of wildlife. Over recent years, the Save the Manatee Club say that more manatees have been seen utilizing the Silver and Ocklawaha rivers.

“The webcams provide a wonderful entertainment and educational tool to the general public, but they also help us with the manatee research,” says Patrick Rose, Executive Director of Save the Manatee Club. “We have learned so much through observing manatees on our existing webcams, and the new cameras at Silver Spring can add to the existing manatee photo-ID research conducted in this area, as well as highlighting Silver Springs and the Silver River as an important natural habitat for manatees.”

Save the Manatee Club state that the webcams will stream live during the daytime, while highlights will play on loop at night; the cameras can be viewed on Explore.org and on Save the Manatee Club's website at ManaTV.org.

Save the Manatee Club, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 1981 by the late renowned singer-songwriter, author, and entrepreneur Jimmy Buffett, along with former Florida Governor and U.S. Senator Bob Graham, is dedicated to safeguarding manatees and preserving their aquatic habitat. For more information about manatees and the Club’s efforts, visit savethemanatee.org or call 1-800-432-JOIN (5646).
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Article by Rachael Volpe