BRUNSWICK – With sea turtle and manatee sightings on the rise on Georgia’s coast, boaters should be on the lookout for these big and rare animals.

Boat strikes are a leading cause of sea turtle strandings and manatee injuries and deaths. Manatees and all sea turtle species found in Georgia are protected by federal and state laws.

Tips on what to watch for in the coast’s murky waters differ. A “footprint” of swirls may mark a 9-foot-long manatee underwater. A 300-pound loggerhead sea turtle may show only its head when it surfaces. Sea turtles spend more time on the surface in spring, putting them at greater risk of being hit by a boat.

Boaters are advised to be vigilant, be ready to slow down or steer clear and if they do run into a sea turtle or manatee, stand-by and immediately contact the DNR at (800) 272-8363. This provides biologists the best chance to help these animals and gather data useful in conserving them. Boaters will not be charged if operating their boat responsibly and the collision was an accident, the DNR release stated.

State Sea Turtle Program Coordinator Mark Dodd, a senior wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, emphasized that sea turtles are not limited to the ocean side of barrier islands.

“They occur everywhere, not just in the ocean,” Dodd said. “They’re in the sounds, the estuaries, the tidal creeks.”

While nesting data indicates that federally threatened loggerheads are holding their own, boat strikes that kill or injure reproductive females are a significant threat. Of the 101 dead or injured sea turtles found on Georgia beaches last year, almost a third of those that could be assessed had suffered injuries consistent with being hit by a boat.

Manatees share a similar problem. These big, slow-moving mammals swim just below the surface, often putting them in harm’s way for oncoming boats. Watercraft collisions caused more than a fourth of the manatee mortalities documented in the state since 2005.

West Indian manatees, including the Florida subspecies found in Georgia, are protected under the Endangered Species Act, where they’re listed as threatened, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Manatees migrate from Florida to Georgia each spring. Some move back and forth between the states through summer, until colder water temperatures in fall draw them south to Florida for the winter. But from as early as March and into November, manatees occur in tidal waters throughout coastal Georgia, said senior wildlife biologist Jessica Thompson of DNR’s Wildlife Conservation Section.

“Manatees take advantage of Georgia’s extensive marshlands,” Thompson said. “The brackish marshlands, tidal and freshwater ecosystems along our coast are full of food – emergent vegetation and smooth cordgrass. Salt marsh cordgrass like Spartina alterniflora and aquatic vegetation are primarily along the marsh edge. And algae, another food source, grows on or near docks.