Alliance for Manatees in South America - Alliance for Manatees

For people that live in Suriname, don’t miss this opportunity!

If you’re from Suriname and is interested in studying manatees, register for this amazing training course!

⭐ Participate in the upcoming Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) 2026 Working Sessions!

🗓 Sessions run between 11–22 May
🌍 Many groups will hold two sessions (East/West) to enable global participation
🎥 All sessions will be recorded and made available on the TDWG YouTube channel
💻 Registration is free, everyone is welcome!

Explore the full list of sessions and register:
👉 https://tdwg.link/working-sessions

Join the community to help shape the future of biodiversity data standards.

🌿 World Wildlife Day – March 3 🌿

Today we celebrate World Wildlife Day, proclaimed by the United Nations to recognize the importance of the world’s wild fauna and flora and to raise awareness about the urgent need to protect biodiversity.

This date also marks the adoption of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973, a landmark international agreement that regulates wildlife trade and helps combat illegal trafficking — one of the greatest threats to wildlife worldwide.

At the Alliance for Manatees, this day highlights the importance of international collaboration in protecting the American manatee and the coastal, riverine, and estuarine ecosystems they depend on across the Americas.

Through science, shared data, and partnerships among researchers, institutions, and conservation organizations, we are working together to better understand and protect these remarkable animals and their habitats.

🌎 Protecting wildlife means protecting the ecosystems that sustain life on our planet.



GBIF: The Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries Marine Mammal Research Unit UBC (MMRU) Aquasis Fundação Mamíferos Aquáticos SIBBr - Sistema de Informação sobre a Biodiversidade Brasileira Save the Manatee Club Instituto Mamirauá

How this animal ended up in this place? Amazing rescue!

🌎✨ Our GBIF Project Page Is Now Live! ✨🌎

We are proud to share that our GBIF project now has an official page on the GBIF website!

🔗 Explore it here:
https://www.gbif.org/project/BID-LAC2025-MIG-020/a-continental-collaboration-for-american-manatee-conservation

This project is executed by the Alliance for Manatees/ Marine Mammal Research Unit UBC (MMRU) Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, with the support of Aquasis and funded by the European Union through the GBIF: The Global Biodiversity Information Facility Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) programme. It also counts on the generous support of the Save the Manatee Club, whose commitment to manatee conservation helps make this work possible.

Bringing together partners from across South America and the Caribbean, the initiative aims to mobilize, standardize, and publish American manatee data in GBIF — strengthening open biodiversity data and supporting evidence-based conservation across the species’ range.

By connecting institutions, harmonizing datasets, and improving data accessibility, we are building a stronger scientific foundation for protecting Trichechus manatus at a continental scale.

The page will be updated as the project progresses, including workshops, events, data publications, and key milestones. So stay tuned!

We are deeply grateful to our partners and to GBIF and the European Union for supporting this continental collaboration for manatee conservation.

POSTPONED: In light of current developments in the West Asia region, we have made the decision to postpone this webinar. We apologize for any inconvenience.

📣 Calling governments and organizations within the West Asia region that collect, use and maintain biodiversity data

Register for the Introduction to GBIF participation in West Asia webinar: 10 March 2026 10:00 - 11:30 CET

This event provides an overview of the benefits of being a part of the GBIF network, GBIF governance and engagement opportunities.
🔗 https://gbif.link/participation_west_asia

🌏 Registration is intended for government and organizational representatives from Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

The Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at University of British Columbia just shared a news post highlighting the Alliance for Manatees and the research Dr. Carol Meirelles is leading on American manatee conservation biology across South America.

The post explores how manatees use changing coastal environments and why collaborative, long-term research is essential for their conservation.

👉 Check it out here:
🔗 https://oceans.ubc.ca/2026/02/05/following-manatees-across-changing-coastlines/

Give it a read and help us spread the word 💙

Photo: Fundação Mamíferos Aquáticos

We are proud to announce the launch of

Connecting Waters, Sharing Data: A Continental Collaboration for American Manatee Conservation

This international project is led bt the Alliance for Manatees/ Marine Mammal Research Unit UBC (MMRU), Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia (UBC), with Aquasis support, and the institutions that form the Alliance, bringing together researchers, conservation practitioners, and organizations from across Latin America.

Supported by GBIF: The Global Biodiversity Information Facility through the Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) programme and funded by the European Union , this project aims to mobilize, standardize, and publish high-quality manatee biodiversity data, making it openly available to support research, conservation planning, and environmental decision-making across the region.

Through collaboration, capacity building, and open data sharing, we will strengthen regional networks, increase access to reliable information on American manatees, and help ensure that science-based knowledge reaches those working to protect this species and its habitats.

We will also count on the important support of SIBBr - Sistema de Informação sobre a Biodiversidade Brasileira, the GBIF node in Brazil, which will contribute to training and capacity building activities throughout the project, including during the regional workshop.

We also thank Save the Manatee Club for its complementary support to the regional workshop in Paramaribo, helping facilitate partner participation and in-person collaboration.

This project reflects the power of shared data, shared responsibility, and shared conservation goals. We look forward to the journey ahead and to sharing updates as the work progresses. 💙🐋





Tagging our partners and supporters 👇

New publication on manatee habitat use and conservation!

We are excited to share a recently published article in Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems to which Dr. Carol Meirelles is a co-author, alongside an international team of scientists led by Dr. Iran Normande.

The study, titled Drivers of Habitat Selection by the Endangered Greater Caribbean Manatee in Coastal-Marine Ecosystems, used long-term GPS satellite telemetry of 20 manatees in northeastern Brazil to identify the habitats most important for this endangered species. It confirmed that manatees prioritize estuaries, freshwater access (rivers and springs), and seagrass beds—key areas for feeding, movement, and survival.

These habitats, however, often overlap with areas of intense human activity, increasing risk from pollution, disturbance, and vessel strikes. The results underscore the need to protect and restore critical habitats, improve connectivity with freshwater systems, and reduce human pressures through sound management.

We also want to highlight that Dr. Iran Normande, an expert in manatee ecology from ICMBio and UFAL and main author of this study, has spent time working with Alliance members during collaborative workshops, including activities at the Marine Mammal Research Unit (MMRU), bringing valuable insight into research priorities and conservation strategies through institutional collaboration.

Drivers of Habitat Selection by the Endangered Greater Caribbean Manatee in Coastal‐Marine Ecosystems Habitat selection is a fundamental aspect of animal movement and behaviour, involving strategies that influence population regulation, species interactions, community structure and the generation and...