Chessie the manatee is seen again!

August 30, 2001

A Florida manatee named Chessie is perhaps the most famous and well traveled manatee along the US Atlantic coast.  Radio tagged and tracked by the US Geological Survey's Sirenia Project, he gained media fame in the summer of 1995 by swimming past the mid-Atlantic states, through New York City, and all the way to Rhode Island, further than any manatee had been known to venture. After returning to Florida for the winter, he again wandered north as far as Virginia where he was last seen in 1996.

On August 30, 2001, Chessie was photographed at the Great Bridge Locks in Virginia!  Joel Scussel, civil engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Rob Poyner of U.S. Facilities, Inc. were working at the Great Bridge Locks in Virginia when they noticed a manatee in the lock basin. Because manatees are only occasionally seen this far north, they notified Sue Barco, a marine mammal scientist at the Virginia Marine Science Museum, who brought her research team to the locks.  While the manatee waited patiently in the lock basin for the gates to open, Sue, Joel, and Rob watched and photographed the distinctive scar pattern on the manatee.  Afterwards, the gates were opened and the manatee continued his trip south.  The photographs were then sent to Cathy Beck and Amy Teague at the USGS's Sirenia Project where they used the manatee photo-identification catalog to match scar patterns and confirm his identity as Chessie!

Chessie first gained notoriety in the fall of 1994 when he was sighted far beyond the usual range of manatees in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, captured and returned by U.S. Coast Guard plane to Florida.  He was released into the Banana River, Brevard County wearing a VHF and satellite-monitored radio tag attached to a harmless, pliable belt around the base of his tail.  USGS Sirenia Project biologist Jim Reid kept track of Chessie as he moved into southeastern Florida, and then in the spring of 1995, as he moved northward into Georgia waters. By mid-July 1995, he was again in Chesapeake Bay.  This time he was not captured, but Jim continued to follow him, using the signals emitted from Chessie's radio transmitter, through Delaware Bay, into salt marshes near Atlantic City, New Jersey and Connecticut, past the Statue of Liberty, and through Long Island Sound.  Chessie stopped briefly to rest and feed along the way, but continued his northward movement until he reached Point Judith, Rhode Island on 16 August 1995.  Here he encountered cooler water and turned around to return to the warmer waters of Long Island Sound. His radio tag broke free on 22 August in New Haven, Connecticut, but public sightings were received as he continued his journey south. On 23 September 1995 he passed through the Great Bridge Locks, then was seen in Florida waters near Jacksonville on 16 November 1995.

Chessie was seen again in February 1996 near Ft. Lauderdale. A radio transmitter was attached again to the belt that he still wore. His movements north were tracked once more, and he crossed the Florida-Georgia border in mid-June. Unfortunately, he lost his transmitter on 10 July near Beaufort, North Carolina.  The last time Chessie was seen was on 18 August 1996, swimming south past Portsmouth, Virginia.

Since then, several sighting reports of manatees in Maryland, Virginia, and North and South Carolina have been forwarded to us, but none could be confirmed as Chessie. This time, the manatee was positively identified as Chessie through the USGS Sirenia Project's manatee photo-identification catalog, a computerized database of photographically documented manatees. Each manatee in the database is recognized by one or more unique features, most commonly the scars inflicted by non-lethal encounters with boats.  In 1994, Chessie was photographically documented prior to his release in Florida and was recognizable by a distinct long gray scar with several small white spots within this dorsal feature. He has since acquired tail mutilations as well, but they are not severe. 

Our thanks to all the lock personnel, especially Joel Scussel and Rob Poyner, at Great Bridge Locks, and Sue Barco and the rest of the team from the Virginia Marine Science Museum for reporting and documenting this manatee sighting so well. We are all delighted to know that Chessie is alive and continuing his travels!

USGS News Release