Our main challenge is to use the results of our studies and turn them into actions and management plans directed to change the present conservation status of manatees and their habitat. In this direction, one of our first tasks was to promote the creation of a master plan that should set the main objectives and activities for future manatee conservation. Thus, we wrote the first draft for the Action Plan for Manatee Conservation in Costa Rica, and help organized a workshop directed to discuss and agree on the plan contents. This meeting was attended by members of the Ministry of Environment (MINAE), the National Biodiversity Institute (INBio), Caribbean Conservation Corporation (CCC), representatives of local communities, National Coast Guard, Fundación Salvemos al Manatí and other relevant groups. The plan contents were discussed and approved by consensus, and the document is presently being edited by government officials. You can consult the last Plan draft from that meeting.

Landscape of Southeastern Nicaragua

We are already using the existing draft of the Action Plan to identify priority activities to be implemented. One of our main working lines, besides outreach and education activities, includes the design and location of public signs for boaters that would announce slow speed areas and some "manatee sanctuaries" where boat access is restricted. To carry out these activities, we have worked closely with the Tortuguero National Park Staff, and, as a result of our joint discussions, we have produced a report about "Boat traffic regulations to conserve manatees inside Tortuguero National Park" (Recomendaciones para regular el tráfico de embarcaciones a motor en el Parque Nacional Tortuguero con el fin de favorecer la conservación del manatí). Final emplacement of such signs is one of our immediate activities to be carried out jointly with government officials.

Information produced by us regarding manatee distribution and relative abundance in Southeastern Nicaragua has been included in the Management Plan for the San Juan River Wildlife Refuge. Thus, manatees became an excellent conservation tool that affected territorial planning and determined levels of use and boat traffic in certain rivers, lagoons and creeks within the reserve.