those are the headlines. "america tonight" is up next. you can get the latest news online at our website aljazeera.com. do keep it here. >> on "america tonight", the blast that rocked pan am flight 103. >> my daughter -- rocked manhattan. disaster in new york city. and the questions about why this happened. also tonight - the cold pain of heroin addiction. >> it's too much. it's too much. i know how i raised him. i know how i raised him to live. we lived a whole some life.

i don't know how this addiction took over. >> our special series focuses on heroin in a place you might least expect, why it's out of control, and why so many find themselves addicted in vermont. and who wouldn't want to float face to face in florida. what is that love worry to people who want to protect them. them? >> good evening, thanks for joining us, i'm joie chen. we begin in new york's harlem neighborhood with an explosion felt more than a mile away, a blat believed to have been caused by gas leak, leveled to two five story buildings and killed two people and nine missing. with so many people at work at that time of day in manhattan, you can imagine the anxiety caused by a blast even noted by earthquake monitoring systems in the city.

tonight, we were on the scene shortly after the buildings came down and residents could hardly believe their eyes. >> walking into harlem, we found a neighborhood in shock. just hours after a massive explosion shook this corner, the full extent of the damage is becoming clear. a local resident showed us this play ground where firefighters are clearing debris. all around us, windows blown out, shattered glass littered everywhere on the ground. >> all you hear, just a loud bang like noise you never heard before. right away, i come out and i see my living room and i see the window is shattered, anything around it is on the floor. >> have you smelled gas before? >> yeah. >> when did you smell gas? >> gas like a week. >> did you ever suspect that something like this could

happen? >> this building was old. i only thought something going to june witnesses are concerned for neighbors and wonder if what happened here could happen again. >> anybody else down here, let them know how, we're going to bring water and food. >> the focus is getting everyone to a safe place and making sure no one goes hungry. this is a neighborhood that's seen change over the years and for local business owners, this only adds to the uncertainty. >> this part of the feeling is right here. >> are you concerned about the effect on your business? >> very concerned, but my first concern is how people's doing and making sure everybody's ok and then work. >> when the dust settles, how will harlem recover. >> i'm a little taken aback. i've seen three

medical examiners. i don't know what to do. i'm sorry. >> joining us now is someone who knows this neighborhood, new york assembly member robert rodriguez, born and raised and today represents east harlem in the state legislature. we appreciate you being with us, sir. whatever is determined to be the cause, talk to those of us who are outside new york city who might not understand that the old images of harlem might have changed a bit. things have changed their rapidly and in many ways. >> east harlem is a community that has certainly been resurging as many of the communities across new york city in the five boor rose have been. having ban native born and raised in east harlem all my life and going back to few generations, having seen that change happen is certainly, you

know, been a great evolution. we've seen our streets become safer and our communities transform. >> a lot of no development there but concern because much of what's been built is on very old infrastructure. >> i think, you know, that's one of our concerns, certainly not just here in east harlem but across new york city and new york state making sure that we are not neglecting our infrastructure, bridges, sewer lines and gas lines. we know the infra structure that the city is built on is hundreds of years old. there was a report recently released yesterday that has brought into question that need to continue to review and invest in infrastructure. that's an important initiative from our local perspective, you know, what has resulted here is what we believe to be a result of a gas leak that has caused an

explosion and fire that affects two buildings directly, and then the surrounding area affecting a number of buildings, to 10 shelly we have 40-50 families at least who are going to be displaced tonight as we try to figure out the structural integrity of the buildings and making sure it is safe for them to return to their homes. of course, you know, there's going to be on going work that has to happen to be able to get the buildings back in the condition for people to live, so certainly -- >> on going investigation, i would think, as well. i mean, it is awfully early to make any kinds of conclusions, even to determine which type of building it was that led to the explosion or whether it came from underneath. we heard from people in a report saying that they did smell gas at some point. we want to note that that report you referred to, the

urban centers report, the old piping is weak and fragile. this is an on going problem not just in this neighborhood but throughout the city and many older cities in this country. >> i think that's absolutely correct. obviously this brings to light something we have to look at much closer and we can't come to any determinations as to how this was caused until the investigation actually happens, but looking at the broader question, i think, you know, being a legislature, you know, it's imperative for us to evaluate to energy safety and following and reviewing this report and also working with our chair of the energy committee in the assembly to figure out are we doing what we need to do ensuring the integrity of the infrastructure in new york city and new york state.

it's certainly premature to have those conversations especially now dealing with the families and the immediate crisis, but i think a little further down the line, we can have some foresight as to what we need to do and some of the questions that need to be asked and answered. >> do you have any thought about whether this in some way helps people to focus on those needs. i recognize it's early in the process but gives people cause to be focused on the need for infrastructure improvements, changes on that level, too. >> i absolutely agree. when we talk about the infrastructure of not just new york city and new york state but throughout the country, there's a massive need for investment. we've identified transportation related plans, mass transit or bridges and what's often forgotten about and neglected is our

suh and areas that we have to understand is due for an upgrade, meaningful life for many of these projects are 40, 50 years, we're pushing 100 and counting. >> there's a lot of risk out there. we appreciate you being with us, robert rodriguez, thanks. >> when we return, mystery on the high seas or not? the search for answers in the disappearance of malaysia air 370 and how any of us could play a key role in helping to find it.

>> the mystery deepens, even with sporadic claims of possible debris silentings, no one knows what happened to the malaysia aircraft. the search expanded dramatically over the last few days but the frustration is growing. >> time is not on our side. as every hour goes by, the

search area gets bigger and bigger. >> malaysia authorities believe that the jetliner missing since saturday may have changed course around the time it stopped communicating with ground controllers. earlier this week, authorities expanded their search to the straight, hundreds of miles from the plane's last known position. the search area is now 27,000 square miles, complete with a lack of crypt details. with no clear indication of the path the plane took, frustration gross among family members of the missing. here, water bottles tossed out of frustration while other family members demanded answers from airline officials in beijing, the flight's original destination. >> i'm not very satisfied. there are many things that have still not been clearly explained and they still haven't met our request. >> malaysia airlines gave money to relatives of the missing passengers equaling 5,000 u.s.

dollars to help cover basic necessities while waiting word about their loved ones. >> the final aid assistance is provided for the basic necessity. there was no specific conditions attached to it. >> for some family members, the money is of no value. the mystery behind the plane's disappearance has pushed them to the breaking point. >> some of the malaysia airlines staff had very bad attitudes toward us relatives. >> the international search teams including the united states have chased several false leads and come up empty handed. equally mysterious is the lack of a distress call from the pilots. >> we're providing assistance, obviously the malaysians have the lead but we do not have enough information to comment on the cause. >> the search continues. >> we will never give up hope, and this, i say this, we owe to the families. >> sarah, you know, there are

all those sporadic reports, none seem to be panning out. if there was a possibility this crashed on land, someday should have seen something. >> you would think so, but this was late at night in a rural part of the area which it went down, so someday might have missed it. >> it's still an extraordinary event. there are various reports. is this investigation any closer to any kind of conclusion, figuring out what happened? >> no, like you said, there's rumors and speculation, someday who saw one thing, somebody saw something else if that five days in, there's no new word. the area has gotten bigger. where do we go from here, only time will tell. >> thanks very much for being here. >> the search has been joined by more than 2 million people looking through a crowd

sourcing campaign. >> we've captured loads of imagery over the search area, today 25,000 kilometers of square imaging, we're asking the public to help analyze that information. >> what is analyze in this context mean? >> we have lots of pictures and need people to identify what's going on inside.

. >> we haven't received a smoking gun. >> what about in previous case, have there been opportunity for you to use the product in personal life disasters.

>> yes, absolutely. it goes around once a week. because we have satellites going around the globe we can image and launch the crowd-sourcing capability on every major disaster around the world. we can convert the imagery to maps, where the schools are, roads are, and we are prepare it for people on the ground, government and commercial government. if folks are interested in the economic recovery of certain regions. >> what about disasters like super typhoon haiyan. >> we had tens of thousands combing through hundreds of thousands of images. we identified individual

scructures and damaged neighbourhoods to get best helps for recovery. >> dr from digital globe. thank you. we hope your contributors do find something. . >> thank you for having me. >> a look ahead to thursday. an indepth look of the key players in the future of crimea. a culture with a long and tragic history on the peninsula, and at the hand of leaders in moscow. "return to exile", later in this hour - a terrifying spike in heroin addiction in a place you may least expect. "addicted in vermont" begins with the father of a taken addict and the vicious culture of heroin users. >> she died a slow death at the apartment. they sanitized the place as she was dying.

they knew she was going, gone, and they took care of themselves first. >> correspondent adam may on the cold truth about heroin, and being addicted in vermont. ♪

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>> now snapshot of stories making headlines. jonathan martin, former miami dolphins player has been picked up by the san francisco 49ers. he walked from the dolphins after repeated bullying by richy incognito and other players. many thought his career would be over after blowing the whistle on his teammates. >> darrin sharper, who played 14 seasons in the league was indicted in arizona on two counts of sexual assault, three counts of administering a dangerous drug. sharp is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting eight women in five cities. >> a new are you sure for adhd medications, prescriptions for the disorder rose more than 50% for adults. that's 2.6 million americans, raising a concern that the condition is overdiagnosed or prescribed without considering alternative approaches. >> on the subject of our special

series, addicted in vermont, where an explosion of heroin use is threatening and ruins thousands of lives. attorney general eric holder pledged his democratic's efforts to join the fight against the addiction. >> open yet addiction is an urgent and growing public health crisis. just department officials include be the d.e. and other local and state leaders are fighting back. it will require enforcement as well as treatment. the justice democratic is committed to both. >> beginning our essential series from one town ripped apart by the crisis, here's correspondent adam may. >> jail institution and death, i've been through it all. i really didn't think i'd be sitting here today. >> people here don't even make

enough money to get by, but they'll get rid of their food cards, they'll do whatever means, go without food, they'll steal from friends and family just to get one more. >> per wi heroin is striking small towns like this town in vermont. >> no matter what, 24/7, you're plotting in your head on how to get the next high. it's an every day struggle, an every second struggle. >> vermont ranks number two in the country for people seeking treatment for open yet addiction. tucked away between trendy restaurants is veinty house, a halfway home for addicts trying to beat the odds and get clean. matthew and ashley were two hard core heroin addicts now going through recovery. >> how hard is it?

>> it destroys you, it really does. mentally, you're all over the place. you're happy, you're sad, you're miserable, you're excited and physically everything on your body hurts, everything. you deal with it for the rest of your life. there's no -- you don't graduate from addiction. you're not cured. >> after trouble with the law and about a dozen overdoses that put her in the hospital, ashley, who's only 21, hit rock bottom. >> i didn't even think i would make it to 21. >> matt's addiction cost him a successful career as a computer technician at the department of home land security. >> it was great, you know, having a good job, being able to travel, making really, really good money and to be able to spend twice as much of that in a year's period of time and sit there and wonder how did i spend that much money on drugs when i only made this much? >> since last year, deaths from

open yet overdoses have doubled in vermont, the number of residents seeking treatment has increased 771% since 2000, almost everyone we spoke to here knew someone affected by addiction. >> i don't know has to do, because the pain hurts, it's just too much. it's too much. i know how i raised him. he had the best of everything. he went to sunday mass, we went to the grandparents house every sunday, we lived such a wholesome life and i don't know how this addiction took over. i don't. i don't know how it took over. >> carol is one of many broken parents of children in the grips of heroin addiction. she asked that we not show her face. >> your son was going to come here and talk to us, as well,

and he decided not to. >> correct. >> why? >> it's a vicious cycle, it's a game. he'll say and do whatever you want to hear, but not follow through with it. >> he says he's been clean for seven days now. do you believe him? >> absolutely not. i know nothing about addicts or drugs, but i'm learning a lot. i wake up every morning and i thank god that my son's still alive, i think. i think. i haven't heard from him. i think. i think he's ok. i think he hasn't gotten in trouble with the law. i want to try to keep him alive, but i don't know how to do it anymore. i don't know how to do it anymore. >> do you think he at all considers how this has impacted you? i don't think they care. i don't think they care, as long as they get their fix. >> how serious is the heroin problem in vermont right now?

>> right now, my patients tell me you can find heroin and every corner, street corner for example, it's in every town. >> the doctor is one of vermont's leading addiction specialists, she says the current heroin invasion can be traced back to the abuse of cheap, powerful pain killers that were too easy to get. >> i think it is a particular problem in rural states, perhaps boredom, not sure. i was in primary care and i remember seeing it. i moved here in 1999 and in the early 2000, 2001 i started seeing a bunch of 20-year-olds come in with habits of oxycontin. to me, that was sort of the turning point of how things started. it started out with pills. >> pills that were crushable and easy to snort. the doctor believes pharmaceutical companies could have done more to prevent this epidemic. >> how did heroin become the problem here? >> the company chose not to put

a coating around the medication that would have made it very difficult to snort. most of these kids started out snorting the medication. if they had put the coating around it, it might have stopped this from the beginning but they chose not to for chick reasons, financial reasons. when they decided, the company decided that they were then going to put a coating, the cost of the drug went way up and the heroin dealers moved in. >> with percocet and other powerful pain killers going for $80 a pill, heroin became the cheaper alternative. heroin dealers saw a major market in towns like rutland and major profit. >> what we're seeing is we're right near new york, near massachusetts, near connecticut and people can take a couple hour trip down to these places and score some really cheap heroin and sell it for a lot more here. >> we didn't know that she was using drugs until she was in the

cocaine addiction around the age of 15 to 16. that's when things got so bad that we had to admit that something was wrong, and seek treatment. >> patrick martin's daughter sarah started using drugs in high school, but with treatment, her parents thought she was out of danger. >> she had turned her life around and applied to college. life was good. she had a good job, she was vibrant. we were ready to see what was in the future for her, because we knew it would be good. >> but martin's life shattered one night when police knocked on his door. >> it was devastating. i had a loss before, but never the loss of my child. nobody should be burying their child. nobody should be trying to figure out the clothes they're going to put them in in the casket. >> martin said his daughter's body was dumped in a hospital

parking lot after she died slowly from an overdose. the heroin was 82% pure and mixed with cocaine. >> she died a very slow death at the apartment of the people she was with. they sanitized the place as she was dying. they knew that she was going that she was gone, and they took care of themselves first. >> are you haunted by those questions? >> absolutely. i'm haunted by the fact that the people that were with her are still out and never got charged with furnishing those drugs. one is local, still dealing. >> this is the bench that sarah used to sit on. >> this is the bench. >> after her death, patrick and his wife started coming by this bench in downtown rutland. it was sarah's favorite spot to relax and where they decided to start a support group for others like them to help families understand and cope, they named the group with

it's end. if we say to one other person, help one other person live, help another family save their child, then her life won't have been in vain. she was so much more than drugs. >> adam may, aljazeera, rutland, vermont. >> joining us to talk about this dramatic increase in the number of heroin users even in places like rural vermont is rusty payne from the drug enforcement administration. the thing that strikes us is this seems so out of what we think of in a place like vermont. it's anywhere and everywhere and with anybody. >> no demographic limits. this knows every demographic rural, urban. >> even in your own family you have seen this happen. >> we have seen this in my own family as recently as 48 hours ago, a relative on my wife's side died of a prescription overdose.

>> of an open yet substance, so this really is reaching in all corners. we heard earlier this week attorney general holder speaking about this, the governor of vermont stepped forward in the state of the state address and said this is the main, the singular issue facing his state. has this happened truly that rap bidly that it's taken over and become such an important topic. >> in the last five years, we've seen a huge spike in both prescription drug open yet addiction and overdose deaths as well as that transition to heroin. the biggest thing an addict wants to avoid is withdrawal, whatever they can get and open yet withdraws what they're trying to avoid. prescription drug addiction is extremely expensive and the cycle of addiction, you go from popping pills to crushing and snorting to injecting and then on to the heroin because at some point, you hit that ceiling with the pills and either a financial ceiling or you're $100 a day

habit can go to $10 a day habit with heroin. >> buy one of these prescription drugs and grinding it up or as the doctors pointed out, there's a pretty big cost difference. >> that's exactly what we see, increased heroin production globally specifically in mexico. are law enforcement seizures on the border up 400% between 2008 and 2012. drug trafficking networks from mexico and oversee distribution in the united states, they prey upon these areas that are vulnerable to pill addiction, and there's no better way to drive a market than to sell a product really cheap. you drive addiction and you get repeat business. >> that's supply and demand. >> correct. >> just an economic issue. now the thing that strikes me as attorney general holder stepped forward and said look, the federal government's going to get involved but what can the federal government do beyond the drug interdiction in this sense,

at this local level what can you do? >> as much attention that we can give to this problem, we need to do it, talk to our kids as a much earlier age and explicitly about drug abuse and addiction. >> and to communities, as well. >> absolutely and make sure people understand if you're in a tough place, an addict, there's help out there. we're a country of second and third chances. drug courts are huge in this country as are treatment programs. >> i do want to ask about a specific treatment and that is one of the recommendations that attorney holder made had to do with the use of the antidote material and that first responders could actually be required, encouraged to carry it, because there's so much on the street. >> typically d.e.a. is not a first responder. other focus is on drug trafficking orgs, the people that are bringing this stuff in across the border and who are the large scale traffickers. but any efforts that first

responders can make to help those in need and that seems to be one that is working for some, i think that's going to be an effort that you're going to see more and more. >> if this can happen in your family, rusty, with a d.e.a. official as part of your family, what advice can you give when you talk about giving advice to people, encouraging young people not to get involved in these kind of drugs, what advice can you give? >> it starts in the home. the advice that i can give is drug abuse means death, maybe not physical death, but death of your dreams, death of your potential. drug addiction robs people of what can make them great, the things that they've been blessed with, out the window, it destroys families, communities, and it destroys lives and you can die. we've seen it. i've seen it in suburban virginia where i live in a relatively upscale community. we lost a young lady 17 years old to a heroin overdose just

four or five months ago, a girl from my church died from a heroin overdose five or six years ago, it's around us. it starts with pills and transitions to heroin. we don't have a -- we have an addiction problem. we don't have one versus the other. we have an addiction problem. and when people can't get their hands on pills or its too expensive, they crave anything that can get away from withdrawal, has open yet high and they oftentimes turn to heroin. >> is there a sense though that people understand when the attorney general comes forward, we are thinking about law enforcement, about things that the grand scale of things. now do you have a sense that people are starting to get that message when you see something like adam's report when you have the kinds of experiences that you have had in your church and community that hey, this is not some sort of street drug urban crime problem, this is everybody. >> we hope so, but again, it

starts in the home. >> in all cities? i mean do you see it across the country? >> absolutely. absolutely. open yet addiction, heroin abuse and addiction cuts across all 50 states over every demographic line, soccer moms, 25-year-olds, college kids, i mean, this is a big deal for across the board. >> with that in mind, have there been particular urban areas the federal government thinks needs to be focused on? >> certainly urban areas, inner cities, you can get heroin cheap pretty much anywhere. that's the case in urban america, as well. >> 2010 according to c.d.c., we lost over 16,000 people to prescription drugs. we lost over 3,000 to heroin. that's almost 20 for us people and that was four years ago. i hate to see what the numbers are, there's usually a lag time. i hate to see what those numbers

are for 2012, 2013, 2014. these aren't just numbers to hang on a story line. >> they are people and real lives. >> absolutely. >> all right, thank you very much for being with us here. >> our special series, addicted in vermont continues next time on this program when correspondent adam may investigates a state in relaps and desperate people looking to get clean. >> in vermont now, you'll see insurance only paying for two weeks at a rehab facility. i think that's bizarre. in my first two weeks, i wasn't ready. >> what's working and what's not, as vermont fights the rampant spread of heroin in its quiet communities, thursday on america tonight. ahead after the break, with this crisis threatening to spin further out of control, ukraine turns to the white house for help.

al jazeera america. we open up your world. >> here on america tonight, an opportunity for all of america to be heard. >> our shows explore the issues that shape our lives. >> new questions are raised about the american intervention. >> from unexpected viewpoints to live changing innovations, dollars and cents to powerful storytelling. >> we are at a tipping point in america's history! >> al jazeera america. there's more to it.

consider this: the news of the

day plus so much more. >> we begin with the government shutdown. >> answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> it seems like they can't agree to anything in washington no matter what. >> antonio mora, award winning and hard hitting. >> we've heard you talk about the history of suicide in your family. >> there's no status quo, just the bottom line. >> but, what about buying shares in a professional athlete? real perspective, consider this on al jazeera america >> almost two weeks after russian troops invaded crimea, the standoff is no closer to an end. this week, a referendum to decide whether the pips la should remain part of croatian territory or part of russia. president obama pledged support for that nation and warned russia to back down. >> we will continue to say to the russian government that if

it continues on the path that it is on, then not only us, but the international community, the european union and others will be forced to apply a cost to russia's violations of international law. there's another path available and we hope president putin is willing to seize that path, but if he does not, i'm very confident that the international community will stand strongly behind the ukrainian government in preserving its unit and its territorial integrity. >> that is the question. what is russia's next move. the uncertainty is certainly being felt across and in crimea at this hour. in the capitol of ukraine, the government is increasingly looking to the united states and europe to help and the impasse, as fears around insecurities grow.

aljazeera's reporters are covering events across the region. we begin with phil ittner. >> here in kiev there is a mixture of hope and anxiety, hope because they're expecting something tangible to come back from that delegation in d.c. both in terms of economic assistance, but also military assistance, non-lethal. there is information from intelligence gathering communities that there are russian nationals coming across that border with the intention of agitating and causing addition reputation between those who lean towards the west and those who lean towards russia. >> this is word that this weekend, they can expect to see some of that disruption from those agitators, because that's at a time when that very important referendum will happen

and if there's disruption, it may send a very clear message that it might be best to vote in favor of returning to russia. >> phil ittner in the ukrainian capitol. >> the eyes are focused on the upcoming referendum. jennifer glasse is in the seaside city in crimea where russian warships continue to block the support and the ukrainian navy fleet. what are sunday's expectations for the vote? >> many believe that sunday's referendum will correct a mistake made 60 years ago when then satisfactory jet leader gave crimea to ukraine. many here have believed that it should have always remained a part of russia and the vote will correct that. there's suspicion here. the train station this morning, when the train came in from a kiev there were members of the people's defense force, local

crimea thats loyal to moscow watching to see who would get off the train. we've also seen check points around the city, checking to see who's coming in and out of the country and of course crimea's airport has been closed to all flights exempt those from moscow. while many here believe that the referendum is a done deal, the majority ethnic russian population will vote to head towards moscow. there are those worried what it might mean, not least the sailors of the black sea fleet blockaded on their ships for 10 days now. >> ahead in our final thoughts this hour, is it just too much love? florida's lumbering sea cow the manatee, why those who may want to get up and personal may be a threat to its future.

>> finally from us this hour, the florida manatee is by conservation standards a success story. by the early 1940's, there are estimated less than 400 of them remaining but with more protections now in place, thousands are swimming in florida once again. will the future of the ma'am malls be in more trouble soon? on thursday in miami, environmental activists and developers face off about plans to build more docks on waterways for boaters in central florida. environmentalist reject the plan as more harm to the sea cows. >> we discovered in the crystal river of florida, these lovable

creatures may be too popular for their own good. >> the very small area, two acres and seven acres right here. we're going to see manatee activity behind the boats on the surface, very likely a mating herd. >> it's just past down on king's bay on the west coast of florida. a u.s. fish and wildlife ranger knows every inch of this body of water. >> about nine miles away, they can go feed and come back. >> right now, the bay is serene, empty of boats and people but filled with an exceedingly rare and endangered wildlife. >> manatee is the only marine mammal that initiates contact with people because of curiosity. >> do you think they actually make a conscious choice. >> yes, they do make a conscious choice to interact with people.

they know. >> it's that promise of interaction that by noon creates gridlock rivalling rush our in times square. now more than 250,000 a year flock to this small bay. it's about half a square mile. >> most of the people that live here in king's bay, they are not liking the fact that there's no limits, no thresh holds, no caring nasty how many visitors at one time can come to the bay. most people in town are happy. >> money, money, money. >> it depends an manatee eco tourism. >> king's bay is one of the only places in the world where you can swim with and even touch groups of endangered florida manatees. hot springs beneath the by provide bathroom water all year round. manatees need that warmth to survive winter codes.

it's critical machine tee habitat. >> we have fat, healthy happy manatees here. >> mike is a skilled diver, tour boat drive and manatee guide. >> we have 400 coming here. >> that's a lot. >> that is a lot. >> krystal river is named one of the thousand places to see before you die in that in the new york times best seller of the same name, manatee eco tourism is the life blood of that small town on the shore, population 3,000. eco tourism and the hundreds of thousands of tourists it brings has set off a debate. >> what do tourists get with swimming with the manatees. >> you only touch what you love and only love what you know.

we are fostering a steward ship. once we come face-to-face and such something, it's real to us. >> the swimming with manatees attraction is his livelihood. >> manatees will behave much more like cats and not so much like dogs. >> we call them gentle giants. they're so engaging and curious and they move in slow motion when they're looking at you and there's a connection when you look in their eyes. >> every day, he takes visitors underwater, and often swimmers will pelt or touch the manatees, which is legal here. some conservationist the want the tour boats eliminated because they believe snorkelers and boats are disturbing the animals. at the very least, some insist touching should be banned. tour boat operators argue it turns visitors from tourists to manatee advocate and on the water, there is lots of enthusiasm. >> it gives me chills thinking

about that, cusping something to me which has always been so elusive. >> it was so different from anything i've ever done. they're so big and right there and you can just reach out and touch them and they're not going to do anything. >> they do have roped off sang waters that they can escape to where the overcrowding becomes too much. they are off limits to the public, but sometimes as we saw, tourists go there anyway. >> hey, ma'am, you aren't supposed to be in there. you see that says closed area. >> we're going to go up here this way. >> tracey leads kayak tours of the bay. she films what she calls manatee harassment by divers and tour operators. >> what was it like out there this morning. >> crazy, too many people, too many boats, very few manatees except the ones in the sanctuary. they know where to go when it gets crowded.

>> she has seen them chased, cast separated and more. >> i've seen people stand on them, climb on their backs to ride, grab their flippers, try to catch them from behind to ride, blocking them from surfacing to breathe, anything you can think of. >> eco tourism provides jobs and revenue for gift shops, dive tours and hotels. it really is the only game in town. >> where do you draw the line? >> i think that people should not touch the animals or attempted to. i think that's where a lot of the harassment and disturbance of the animals occurs. >> no one has explained to me what i do with my passenger with the animal comes over and starts engaging us. do you pit you back on the boat. the no touch is activists wanting to shut us down. you get the passengers out of a situation like that, all of a sudden you've destroyed probably

a third of our customer base. i don't know a business in this economy that can take a 33% hit. >> one place within king's bay environmentalists want turns into a sanctuary is three sister springs. almost every day in the winter, it's packed with manatees and tourists. >> with all these people in here, can these animals really rest? >> yes, some of them are very resilient and tolerant of recreational activities by human. some of them are intolerant. then choose the areas that are closed off or off limits to people. >> with the ranger as our guide, we went for a swim. manatees all around. we drifted gently, taking great care not to touch them, even those that approached us. somewhere were inquisitive, some nibbled on toes and some just swam on by.

>> i can't think of another wildlife species where you have an expectation of interaction. on safari in africa, you don't want to interact with the elephant or lion. >> the lion's not going to crawl up into your jeep, look you in the face and roll over and show you his belly, either. >> jurisdiction of these waters is divided. for now, tourists will continue to flock to the river hoping that have that once in a lifetime experience that the town needs to stay economically athroat and for now, the touching will continue. >> people think that the value is not just in the interaction with the animal, but in the touching. >> unfortunately, that's what most people want to do when they go to sea world and swim with dolphins or feed the dolphins. they think it's no different and there's a. >> i enormous difference. there is a marine mammal that's not getting treated as much.

>> aljazeera, crystal river. >> that's it for us here on america tonight. if you would like to comment on stories you've seen here tonight, log on to aljazeera.com/americatonight. join the conversation with us on twitter or or facebook page. we'll have more of "america tonight" tomorrow. >> >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm richelle carey, with a look at the top stories. images that could be the first sign of malaysia airlines flight 307 were released by the chinese government. the photos show three large

potential pieces of debris. the search area expanded for the plane that disappeared from radar. it was headed to beijing from kuala lumpur. the fate of the plane and 239 people on board is a mystery. president obama reaffirms his commitment to the ukraine in a meeting with the prime minister arseniy yatsenyuk. they are asking the u.s. for help and says he is not standing down against russia. secretary of state john kerry will meet with russian forn secretary sergei lavrov on monday. >> nine are missing after an explosion in new york city. three are dead, dozens injured, after a building cal appsed after -- collapsed after a gas leak. thursday marks a year since pope francis became the leader of the catholic church. he's considered a modern leader and tackled tough issues. he was named "time" magazine's

man of the year and made "rolling stones" cover in february. "consider this" is next, and you can get the latest online at our website aljazeera.com. >> new clues in the hunt for the missing malaysian airliner, we check the progress. venezuelan protests waged for a month. concerns the fays off could get bloodier. why are ex-or sixes on the rise. i'm antonio mora welcome to consider. here is more on what is ahead. >> it's disappeared off the face