Florida Manatee Mortality 1974-2020

Original provider: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission - Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Dataset credits: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission - Fish and Wildlife Research Institute Abstract: This dataset contains data from the geographic information system (GIS) shapefile of recovered Florida manatee (<i>Trichechus manatus latirostris</i>) carcass locations within Florida from April 1974 through to the latest spatially verified data presently available. Locations are based both on coordinates provided by field staff (gathered either by geographic positioning system [GPS] or by using navigation charts to ascertain latitudes and longitudes) and maps provided by the field staff. Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) GIS staff in the Marine Mammal subsection verify that the provided coordinates match the intent of the plotted location. Points representing carcass locations were entered into a GIS using a digital shoreline basemap taken largely from NOAA navigation charts (1:40,000) and from USGS quadrangles (1:24,000). The scale is considered to be 1:40,000.