Bradenton’s Bishop Museum wins $700K grant. It’s good news for Florida manatees

The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature in Bradenton has secured an additional $718,700 in state funding to increase its manatee-saving power, the museum announced Monday.

The grant is the second one the museum has received from the state through the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission this year. Combined with a $547,000 grant announced in July, that’s more than $1 million infused into the museum’s plan to expand its manatee rehabilitation programs.

At its downtown Bradenton museum, The Bishop provides secondary rehabilitation services for manatees initially treated elsewhere. The habitat can hold up to four recovering manatees.

“This second-stage facility offers manatees the opportunity to gain exposure to natural foods and feeding strategies while gaining weight for their return to the wild,” the museum’s website explains.

But a new manatee hospital in Myakka City, currently under renovation with help from the state funds, will allow The Bishop to also provide emergency critical care for manatees.

“The Myakka property and FWC funding are providing an opportunity for The Bishop not only to increase the number of manatees we can help, but also the way in which we help them,” former Bishop CEO Hillary Spencer said in a news release in July.

Over 500 manatees have died this year, and a record 1,101 manatees died last year as their source of food, seagrass, and their ecosystem are increasingly threatened.

Emergency transport, manatee handling and care needs and veterinary lab equipment will also be supplemented by the grant money, museum staff said.

The Bishop has been rehabilitating manatees since 1998 and is one of the founding members of the Manatee Rescue & Rehabilitation Partnership. Formed in 2001, the partnership combines resources of nonprofit agencies, businesses and government to aid sick and injured manatees around the state.

The Myakka City expansion will add The Bishop to a small list of federally authorized critical care facilities for the threatened manatee.

“Being able to expand The Bishop’s involvement in the Manatee Rescue & Rehabilitation Partnership through additional second stage manatee holding and acute care space is a commitment to manatees, manatee conservation, and our rescue and rehabilitation partners that we are grateful to support and participate in,” Bishop’s Animal Service Director Virginia Edmonds said in a news release.

The Myakka facility will be able to hold up to eight manatees for critical care.

“Once the animals recover, depending on their age, size, and circumstances for rescue, they may be returned to the wild or they may be transferred to the museum for secondary care, much like the manatees we receive from the existing hospitals now,” Edmonds explained in an email.

The Bishop plans to have the facility opened by the end of this year or in early 2023.

“Our goal is by winter because it is a very crucial time for manatees and our rescue and rehabilitation partners,” Edmonds said.

The timeframe depends on the availability of equipment needed to upgrade the facility.

Once complete, plans could boost the capacity of Florida’s network for manatee care and rehab by about 10%, The Bishop estimated.

The Myakka facility will not be open to the public, the museum previously shared. But manatees can be seen up close at the Bishop Museum six days a week. The habitat currently houses three rescue manatees.

This story was originally published October 11, 2022 at 11:51 AM.