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Jamal Galvez, Progam Coordinator Sea to Shore Alliance
"From the three that were reported I know for sure that one was from a watercraft collision, the other two were too decomposed to have determined what the cause of death was. I was just able to see the one at the Radisson which was really decomposed so those will be ruled as undetermined."

"It was from a really big boat judging from the size of the chop wounds from the photographs. It had to have been some sort of dive boat or huge boat that could have caused such impact to that animal."

"Manatees are not confined to one area we do have zones that we designate as no wake zones which are known areas that a lot of manatees hang out. They don't live in no wake zones. They live in the sea all over Belize and so chances of manatees coming in contact with boats is very high but that is why we try to encourage boaters to be alert when driving."

Galvez says every manatee death takes a massive effect on Belize's treasured manatee population.

Sahar Vasquez, reporter
"How does it affect the manatee population? Is it really decreasing as the years go by?"

Jamal Galvez
"Definitely does every manatee that is lost is a blow to our population. Belize has the last stronghold in this population. If we can't protect manatees in Belize they won't be protected anywhere and their won't be manatees in any part of the world because the population here is crucial and the work we do is crucial hence the reason we try to reach out to as many people as we can that are causing issues to these manatees and to work with people that can help us in this effort because if we are not able to save the population we have here that would be it for the population globally."

Galvez says Sea to Shore Alliance has several projects lined up to increase awareness of manatee presence for boaters.