'Manatee Man' counts sea cows at Blue Spring State Park

Wayne Hartley identifies, logs manatees

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – This week's Getting Results Award winner has been researching a Florida icon for 37 years. Wayne Hartley identifies, counts and logs the manatees at Blue Spring State Park in Volusia County.

Hartley, nicknamed the Manatee Man, spends hours in canoes, writing down his findings and searching for sea cows. He identifies the mammals by documenting the scars on their backs. Hartley then names the manatees.

When Hartley started documenting the manatees near Blue Spring, he documented 36 manatees. Now, it's common in the Wintertime for more than 500 manatees to gather near the warm boil.

Congratulations to Wayne Hartley and the Save The Manatees Club on winning the News 6 Getting Results Award.


About the Author
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Emmy Award-winning anchor Matt Austin joined the News 6 team in June 2011 and has been the evening news co-anchor since December 2013.