Very little is known about manatees in Cuba though it has some of the most extensive and best manatee habitat in the Caribbean. In 2001, Dr. Buddy Powell began a long-term initiative to develop and strengthen a manatee research and conservation program in Cuba. Working in collaboration with Wildlife Trust (WT), the University of Havana's Center for Marine Investigations, the Cuban Enterprise for Flora and Fauna and under a license from the US Treasury Department, Buddy has facilitated surveys in various sections of the island and helped to facilitate manatee research and conservation initiatives.

In 2004 through Wildlife Trust (WT) and again in 2009, in cooperation with WT, Sea2Shore conducted a marine mammal necropsy workshop to provide expertise that will help Cuban biologists to identify causes of marine mammal and manatee mortality. The results have shown that a large number of manatee deaths are occurring due to drowning in trawling and netting activities. The Cuban government is using these data to adjust or eliminate netting in areas where it may be a threat to manatees. Buddy is supervising a Cuban Masters of Science a student at the University of Havana, Annmari Alvarez Aleman, who is working on an in-depth manatee study on the Isle of Youth off the SW coast of Cuba.

A Florida manatee with a young calf, first photographed Buddy in Crystal River in 1979, was sighted and photographed by Annmari at a power plant east of Havana. This is the first record of a Florida manatee traveling to Cuba and suggests that there may be some population exchange between the two countries.

Learn more about recent research trips to Cuba in Sea to Shore's "Notes from the Field"