Sirenians face significant welfare harm from boat strikes that cause severe injuries and chronic pain, with speed restrictions the most effective mitigation.
Manatee welfare from boat strikes involves both mortality and prolonged injury suffering. Manatees struck by boat propellers sustain deep lacerations that heal slowly and may become chronically infected. Animals with multiple propeller scars carry evidence of repeated strike survival and the ongoing pain of healing and infected wounds. Speed restrictions in manatee habitat are the primary welfare intervention: slower boats either avoid strikes entirely or cause less severe injuries. Enforced protection zones with genuine speed limits save individual manatee welfare; unenforced or poorly marked zones provide no welfare benefit regardless of formal protection status. Individual welfare and population conservation are entirely aligned in sirenian management.