Belmar, N.J. — In a delightful twist amid the fading days of summer, a manatee has taken up temporary residence in the Shark River, surprising fishermen and boaters in the Shark River.
The gentle marine mammal, typically associated with the warmer waters of Florida, was first spotted over the weekend, marking one of the rare northernmost sightings for the species this season.
The adventure began on Saturday morning when local Harry Conover and his father ventured out on the Shark River Inlet lagoon to pick up bait.
What they encountered instead was a 12-foot manatee gliding silently through the water.
“I went out on Shark River to get bait with my dad and low and behold, we come across a 12-foot manatee,” Conover said in an interview with News 12 New Jersey. “I said to my dad ‘There’s a manatee.’ He said, ‘No way!’ and I said ‘Look!’ and there it was, going along the bulkhead, along the docks, and it was just absolutely incredible.”
Their sighting was the first reported to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, which has since been actively monitoring the animal.
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By Sunday, the manatee had moved closer to shore, where it was captured on video by local photographer Kate Watt slowly swimming through the river’s waters.
Other residents, including Josh Vallario, whose backyard dock overlooks the Shark River, also caught a glimpse. Vallario initially mistook the creature for debris. “I saw this brown thing in the water and I thought it was a garbage can from one of the neighbors that blew in,” Vallario said in an interview with News 12 New Jersey.
Once he realized what it was, the excitement was palpable: “It was the coolest thing we’ve ever seen. You can’t miss a manatee. They are the gentle cows of the ocean. Just gentle, giant creatures,” Vallario added in the same interview.
Experts emphasize that while manatee sightings in New Jersey are becoming slightly less unusual due to warming ocean temperatures, they remain a novelty. Manatees, also known as sea cows, migrate northward during the summer to feed on seagrasses and other vegetation but typically head back to Florida as waters cool in the fall.
“It’s not unheard of anymore. These guys do make their way up north,” said Jay Pagel, stranding coordinator at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, in an interview with News 12 New Jersey.
However, the center has only physically handled five manatees in its history since the late 1970s, underscoring the rarity of such events, as Pagel noted in the same interview.
This late summer visitor arrives at a precarious time, as cooler temperatures could soon force the manatee southward. The center plans to continue observations, and if the animal lingers too long, a relocation team may intervene to ensure its safe return to warmer waters.
Past incidents highlight the challenges: In 2020, a manatee was found dead on a Cape May County beach, and in 2009, another named Ilya was dramatically rescued from a Linden creek in a massive operation involving boats, divers, and a Coast Guard plane before being rehabilitated and released in Florida.
With boating traffic picking up along the Jersey Shore, officials are urging caution to protect the protected species. Due to the manatee’s large size and leisurely pace, boat strikes are a leading cause of death in the wild.
“Give it plenty of room, plenty of space, don’t feed it, water it and if you’re on a boat just basically slow down,” Pagel advised in his interview with News 12 New Jersey. Anyone spotting the manatee is asked to keep their distance, snap a photo if possible, note the location, and report it immediately via the center’s 24-hour hotline at 609-266-0538.