Name: Pistachio Released: February 2002 Data Map

Biography: Pistachio is a young male manatee who was rescued from the Halifax River in Daytona Beach in July 1998. He was small, alone, and malnourished. He was brought to SeaWorld Florida for treatment and has been there for rehabilitation ever since. Pistachio was released at Blue Spring State Park which is an excellent place for manatees. It has good habitat and excellent staff, including Ranger Wayne Hartley, who know many of the manatees there by sight.

The following are pictures of Pistachio’s release provided courtesy of the USGS/Sirenia Project:

Pistachio is given a belt and tag for tracking.	It takes many people to carry Pistachio down to the water for release.
Pistachio makes some new, wild friends when he is released in the spring run.	Pistachio seems to blend right in, except for the freeze brand on his back and his belt and tag.

Field Notes:

8/01/02-8/23/02 No new sightings of Pistachio have been reported.

7/10/02-7/31/02:
Newspapers and radio stations from Brevard County to Palm Beach County ran the press release requesting citizens to call in any sightings of tagged animals in their area. Unfortunately, there have been no new reports or sightings of Pistachio.

6/19/02-7/9/02:
A tag was spotted in the St Lucie Inlet on 6/28 around 8:36pm. The public visual was at night with the tag color description of red and yellow. Pistachio’s tag colors were red and white with yellow antenna. Penny Husted felt confident that the citizen described the device accurately to possibly be a tag. Because Monica Ross was on vacation, Penny and Christy Hudak were kind enough to search for Pistachio. Unfortunately, they did not hear anything. Based on the lack of success tracking by land and air, it was decided to take another approach. A press release was compiled and released to news agencies from Brevard county south to West Palm county. A big thank you to Save the Manatee Club for sending out the press release for MRP. The press release described Pistachio’s history, the tag equipment and a little bit about MRP. The press release specifically requested citizens to call in immediately any sightings of tagged manatees to FWC toll free number. At this time, five newspapers and two radio stations have picked up the story. Keep your fingers crossed that someone will see this “tag” along the east coast again and we can determine if it is Pistachio.

6/1/02-6/18/02:
A flight was conducted on 6/13 to search for Pistachio's VHF tag signals. Unfortunately, no signals were heard. WT would like to thank Brian Sharp (FWC) for his assistance on short notice. Having Brian along allowed us the opportunity to listen continuously for each signal. We searched the St. Johns River and a large portion of the Indian River area. The Indian River area was searched based on the "sighting" call received of Pistachio in that area last month and a report of an entangled animal in the area yesterday (sometimes tags are misinterpreted as crab trap floats or the other way around). Unfortunately, Pistachio remains MIA.

5/14/02-5/30/02:
Pistachio is still MIA - no new updates…sorry!

4/22/02-5/13/02:
A public sighting was reported on 4/27 that a manatee with a red and white tag was seen in the Indian River waters of Edgewater between markers 71 and 73. For those of you that are not familiar with Florida, Indian River is on the east coast south of the mouth of the St. Johns by approximately 130 miles. The mouth of the St. Johns is about 130 miles north of Blue Springs. Wildlife Trust received notification of this sighting by Jamie Smith (FWC-Jacksonville Field Station) on 4/30 and Jamie was able to arrange a search effort with Brian Sharp (FWC-Brevard Field Station) to listen for Pistachio in the reported area. No signals were detected. A lot of things do not add up for this to be a valid report. First of all, manatees during this time of year in the Indian River usually travel north towards the mouth of the St. Johns, not south. Thus, Pistachio would be going against the normal movement flow. The person that made the report has not had a working phone since the sighting day. Thirdly, there are markers just outside Blue Springs with the numbers 71 and 73. Park officials and tour boat operators were notified again to keep an eye out for Pistachio. Fliers containing tag information, project description and contact numbers were distributed along to waterways and at boat ramps on a busy Saturday morning. Unfortunately, no additional sightings have been reported.

4/8/02-4/21/02:
Pistachio’s tag did not attempt to update over the past weeks. There also have not been any new sightings of him over the past weeks. Several attempts were made without success to locate him using VHF and sonic equipment along the St. Johns River where he had been seen in the past and several miles north and south of these locations. Local marinas, fishing tours, sightseeing tours, FWC law enforcement and park officials were notified of the MIA Pistachio and asked to contact Wildlife Trust immediately if seen.

3/25/02-4/7/02:
Pistachio's tag did not update or attempt to update over the past two weeks. We had a public sighting that on 3/22, Pistachio's tag was entangled in a drop net. The fisherman for this equipment cut off his net and tried to cut off some of the trout line that was wadded up on the top of the tag. The trout line was not this fisherman's equipment. The fisherman was not able to cut off much of the trout line before Pistachio swam off. Multiple attempts were conducted to locate Pistachio by listening for his tag VHF and his belt VHF frequencies. After three days tracking on the river using a boat, it was decided to use air support to try and locate a VHF signal. You can cover more area with a plane and you can usually hear signals much easier from the air. Unfortunately, the two days of aerial tracking yielded no signal detection. A big thanks goes to Jamie (FWC) for flying both days to listening for Pistachio and to Brian (FWC) and Ann (FWC) for lending boat support during both the boat tracking days and the aerial tracking days. Pistachio was seen by the public on 4/3 just south of the 44 bridge with all his equipment still attached. It was really good to hear that he still had his equipment but perplexing how or why his tag PTT, tag VHF and belt VHF all stopped working at the same time??

3/11/02-3/24/02:
River temperatures began to warm up in three to four degree increments beginning on 3/9. Pistachio moved out of Blue Springs on 3/12 and was observed traveling back into the run on 3/13 just before dark by Tour Boat operators in the area. On 3/14, he located alone milling along the banks on the Northern portion of Hontoon Dead River, which is about three miles north of Blue Springs along the St. Johns River. Pistachio was observed alone by public visuals on 3/16 along the Hontoon Dead River. Pistachio moved further north along the St. Johns River to an area just south of the 44 bridge. Public visuals on 3/18 and 3/19 stated that he was slowly moving along the banks alone. On 3/18, Pistachio’s tag stopped sending regular location updates. Tracking for Pistachio on 3/22 was not successful but a public sighting of Pistachio on 3/21 described a belted animal only without a floating tag. Heavy field efforts will be conducted during the next week to try to locate Pistachio. Thank goodness for VHF belts.

2/24/02-3/10/02:
The river temperature did not rise above 63 degrees due to multiple cold fronts that passed through the area. Animal numbers in Blue Spring ranged from 101 to 45 throughout the weeks. Pistachio remained in the Blue Spring run over the past weeks bottom resting, exploring and socializing. He began exploring the run traveling up to the human swim area on 2/25. He was observed underwater while snorkeling on 2/26. His body condition was assessed to be in good condition with a round stomach and fat rolls along the peduncle. He was very alert and curious towards the snorkeler. Pistachio also discovered a food source from low hanging oak tree branches. He was observed pulling down branches and eating the leaves. On 2/28, romaine lettuce was offered to Stormy. He was observed socializing with other animals of all size classes during the time period in which food was made available to Stormy. Pistachio ventured two times past the Blue Spring’s float line into the cold mix area of the river on 3/2, but would immediately return into the warm part of the spring. Two other attempts to offer food to Stormy were made and Pistachio showed no interest. Pistachio was caught as by-catch during Stormy’s capture inside Blue Spring. Blood levels appeared normal with no indications of stress. He was assessed in good body condition and released back into Blue Spring just inside the Blue Spring’s float line. Pistachio was observed later in the day bottom resting.


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