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Kevin Andrewin
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Gales Point is on the central coast of Belize.
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Perfil de Kevin Andrewin: This page is also available in Spanish.
Born and raised in Belize, Kevin has known manatees all of his life. He grew up watching manatee outside of his home, Gales Point Manatee, which was named after the marine mammal. Kevin is the youngest member of his village council and an active voice for manatee conservation in his village. He is also the chairman of the Gales Point Manatee Tour Guides Cooperative.
Manatee viewing has become a major source of income for the villagers in Gales Point and, as a result, a major source of financial incentive for their conservation. The fishermen of the village have begun to provide manatee tours to tourists interested in seeing these gentle creatures in the wild.
The WPTI manatee project is trying to learn about the migratory movements of manatee in the Southern Lagoon which surrounds Gales Point. Manatees have been "tagged" with a special transmitter to allow Kevin and other researchers to follow their migration. Kevin and Andrea Gil serve as a research assistants to the project.
As part of their duties, Kevin and Andrea visited fishing villages all along the coast of Belize to explain what the transmitter looks like and how it operates. This was done so that fisherman wouldn't become alarmed when they saw something floating behind the manatee. The first manatee was captured and tagged in November. Now there are two manatees with transmitters. Kevin and Andrea track these transmissions on a daily basis as part of their ongoing research.
When he's not studying manatees, Kevin writes and performs raps and songs. Some of his lyrics have an environmental theme. Kevin also protects sea turtle nests from predators by putting cages around them. He checks them every night until the turtles hatch.
©2000
The Wild Ones
c/o Wildlife Trust
61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964-8000
Tel: 845.365.8337 Fax: 845.365.8177
