(SB 198 and HB 349)

Environmental group says more manatees will die if Florida’s seagrass mitigation bill passes.

~ Ocean Conservancy

The proposed bill follows the deadliest year for manatees in Florida history.
Leaders of one of the country’s oldest marine conservation groups say a bill being considered by lawmakers would make it easier for developers to destroy seagrass that Florida’s manatees depend upon for survival.

Ocean Conservancy is urging Florida lawmakers to oppose the legislation. The bills (SB 198 and HB 349) would establish seagrass mitigation banks. That would allow a developer seeking permits for a project that would destroy seagrass to buy credits in a mitigation bank to cover the cost of seagrass restoration somewhere else. Theoretically, one acre destroyed would mean one acre built in another location.

But there are no guarantees, and seagrass restoration projects don’t have a great success rate. J.P. Brooker, Ocean Conservancy’s director of Florida conservation, said that’s especially concerning for Florida’s manatee population that depends on seagrasses for sustenance.

“Manatees are dying in record numbers in Florida, in part because we are losing so much seagrass and they are starving to death,” Brooker said. “Florida should be protecting and conserving established seagrass beds by improving water quality and planting new seagrasses.”

The House bill, sponsored by Merritt Island Republican Rep. Tyler Sirois, is nearly identical to a bill he tried to pass in 2021. That year also happened to be the deadliest year for manatees in recorded history. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported more than 1,000 manatees died last year. That’s double the five-year average. And most of those deaths were due to starvation from lost seagrasses.

“Seagrass mitigation banks are an unproven tool for curtailing the negative effects of development,” Brooker said. “They should not be viewed as conservation or restoration measures. They are solely an effort to offset the damage to seagrass caused by development.”

Florida has more than 2 million acres of seagrass along its coast and in its estuaries. But those numbers have been shrinking. Ocean Conservancy reports the Indian River Lagoon has lost 58% of its seagrass since 2009. Sarasota Bay has lost 18% over the last three years and Tampa Bay is down 12% since 2012. Manatees and other marine life depend on seagrass for food, and it also helps reduce erosion and improve water quality.

Brevard County Republican Rep. Randy Fine, whose district includes parts of the Indian River Lagoon, said in a December committee meeting that seagrass restoration efforts are too risky and too often fail for a mitigation bank to be counted on.

“Whether it’s a 75% failure rate as one speaker said or a 63% failure rate as another speaker said, I don’t care if it’s a 10% failure rate,” Fine said. “Because there is a 100% chance that initial acre of seagrass is going to have been destroyed. With a certainty of destruction (balanced by) a possibility of success. My county and my area, we can’t have that.”

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CONTACT: Jaclyn Lopez, Center for Biological Diversity, (727) 490-9190, jlopez@biologicaldiversity.org
Jake Bleich, Defenders of Wildlife, (202) 772-3208, jbleich@defenders.org
Patrick Rose, Save the Manatee Club, (850) 570-1373, prose@savethemanatee.org

PHOTO CREDIT: Florida Manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris, USFWS

More Than 1,100 Manatees Died in 2021, Largely Due to Polluted Waters

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.— Conservation organizations today filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to revise outdated critical habitat for Florida manatees. A record number of manatees — more than 1,100 — died in 2021, with many of these deaths attributable primarily to pollution of manatee habitat.

“The carnage from 2021 should remove any doubt that Florida’s waters are in crisis,” said Jaclyn Lopez at the Center for Biological Diversity. “With these sweet creatures dying in record numbers, the Biden administration needs to act fast to protect manatee habitat from further destruction.”

Over 10% of Manatees Lost

“In less than one year, after many decades of conservation progress, we lost over 10% of the Florida manatee population,” said Elizabeth Fleming at Defenders of Wildlife. “Without immediate action, the unprecedented manatee deaths of 2021 could become an annual occurrence. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must stop these preventable deaths before recovery of the species is set back even further.”

“The Service’s failure to protect the manatees’ critical habitat along with its biologically unjustified down-listing from Endangered to Threatened under the ESA left imperiled manatees to suffer the deadly consequences of agonizing, yet preventable, mass starvation,” said aquatic biologist and manatee expert Patrick Rose, executive director of Save the Manatee Club. “More troubling is the fact that the FWS acknowledged more than a decade ago that updating critical habitat is essential to the conservation of the species. There can be no justification for further delays.”

In 2008 the Center, Defenders of Wildlife and Save the Manatee Club petitioned the Service to revise and update the manatee’s critical habitat, which was originally designated in 1976.

In 2010 the Service found this revision was warranted, stating that the “loss of Florida’s warm-water habitats is one of the leading threats facing the manatee population.” But more than a decade later, the agency has still not started the revision. In the meantime, the factors warranting revision, specifically the need to protect and restore aquatic vegetation, have only increased in urgency.

Manatee Deaths Higher

Manatees deaths in 2021 were far higher than in any other year since record keeping began five decades ago. More than half these deaths were on the Atlantic coast in the Indian River Lagoon, which provides both prime year-round manatee foraging habitat and vital warm-water habitat in winter. Hundreds of manatees died of starvation in the lagoon because of the loss of seagrass beds to nutrient pollution.

Florida’s Gulf coast also suffered a devastating red tide in 2021, fueled by the Piney Point disaster, in which millions of gallons of toxic wastewater spilled into Tampa Bay and the gulf, killing more than 30 manatees. Experts fear that 2022 will witness the same staggering levels of manatee mortality even though the agencies have implemented a pilot supplemental feeding program in the lagoon.

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MANATEE LAWSUIT PDF LINK

Graphic courtesy Center for Biological Diversity. Data courtesy Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

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Environmentalists threaten EPA with lawsuit over the pollution killing manatees.

Nitrogen and phosphorus discharges endanger their food source.

An environmentalist coalition has served notice of its intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unless it intervenes with state regulators to halt the release of pollutants into the Indian River Lagoon, where endangered Florida manatees are undergoing an historic die-off.

The notice filed Monday by Earthjustice, which litigates to protect the environment, gives the EPA 60 days to act; otherwise, Earthjustice plans to sue on the behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, and Save the Manatee Club.

“It is painfully clear that Florida isn’t doing what’s necessary to control the sewage and fertilizer pollution that’s wrecking the Indian River Lagoon,” Earthjustice attorney Elizabeth Forsyth said in a written statement.

“It’s time for EPA to step in and enforce the Clean Water Act for the sake of the manatees and all the other creatures and people that rely on Florida’s waterways. If watching manatees starve isn’t the tipping point for the EPA to step in, I don’t know what is.”

The letter, which also invokes the Endangered Species Act, is addressed to EPA Administrator Michael Regan and Tony Able, head of the agency’s Water Protection Division. Press officers at the EPA and Florida Department of Environmental Protection have yet to respond to requests for comment.

More than 1,000 manatees have perished this year in what officials have recognized as an “unusual mortality event,” the most ever recorded, and more than half those deaths have been from starvation because toxic algae have been killing off the seagrasses on which manatees rely, the notice letter says.

State officials — finally having won federal approval for the move — have begun using lettuce to supplement the manatees’ diet.

EPA is obligated under the Clean Water Act to control this pollution, caused by phosphate and nitrogen from wastewater treatment plants, agricultural runoff, leaking septic systems, and other sources, the letter says.

“New information shows that the current criteria suffer from lax enforcement, an inappropriately long trajectory to achieve compliance, and a failure to take into account the impact of legacy pollution,” the letter complains.

“As a result, approximately 12 percent of the estimated Florida manatee population statewide has died, with the Atlantic subpopulation having lost approximately 19 percent of its population. In short, both the Indian River Lagoon and the manatee are presently in the midst of ecological collapse,” it continues.

“Further, it appears likely that the 2021 unusual mortality event will not be a one-time event, but rather portends a grim future of continued manatee deaths unless more effective actions are taken to address the key environmental factor driving them — nutrient pollution of key estuary habitats that is destroying habitat, including food for manatees and many other species.”

Any suit would be filed in federal court but Earthjustice hasn’t decided yet upon a specific venue, Forsyth said via email.

“It’s disgraceful that hundreds of manatees have died as a direct result of regulators’ failure to protect our water quality,” Jaclyn Lopez, Florida director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in her own written statement.

“The Indian River Lagoon is an ecological wonder that supports not just manatees, but green sea turtles, snook, tarpon, and a stunning diversity of marine life. The mass death of these manatees, which was completely preventable, makes it clear just how critical it is that the EPA take swift action to protect the vibrant ecosystem they live in before it’s too late,” she said.

“Until Florida is forced to rein in its rampant pollution, manatees will continue to die slow, agonizing deaths by starvation every winter,” said Lindsay Dubin, staff attorney at Defenders of Wildlife. “The EPA must act immediately to improve water-quality lest it further jeopardizes the future of this iconic species.”

At issue are “total maximum daily loads,” or TMDLs, of pollutants allowed under federal and state regulations.

Under federal law, “EPA must determine that the TMDL provides reasonable assurances that point and nonpoint source control measures will achieve expected load reductions,” Earthjustice wrote.

“Lax enforcement and compliance for both point and nonpoint sources suggests…

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Article courtesy of FOX 35 Orlando – Associated Press

Manatees are starving:

Manatees have starved to death by the hundreds along Florida’s east coast because algae blooms and contaminants are killing the seagrass the beloved sea mammals eat, a wildlife official told a House committee Tuesday.

Seagrass has been decimated in the 156-mile-long Indian River Lagoon and neighboring areas. The aquatic plant thrives in clear, sandy water, but murkier water because of the algae and pollutants has made it harder for seagrass to survive, said Melissa Tucker, director of the Division of Habitat and Species Conservation at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“Our statewide death count from all sources has been higher than it’s ever been reported before,” Tucker told the House State Affairs Committee. “This is a starvation issue. There’s not enough seagrasses that are available to the manatees.”

Officials noticed a sharp rise in manatee deaths from December through May, when the sea cows congregate in warm waters. During that period, 677 manatees died, when typically only 156 die, Tucker said.

While manatee mortality leveled out after May, when the mammals extend their range in summer and fall, the state has recorded 968 manatee deaths in 2021, with more than two months left in the year. The previous annual high was 830 deaths in 2013, Tucker said.

Big manatee die-offs in past years have been attributed to more transitory events like algae blooms and unusually cold weather, but the seagrass problem could take longer to reverse, Tucker said. Efforts are being made to replant seagrass and restore clam and oyster beds so the mollusks can help filter the water, she said.

CONTINUE READING FULL MANATEES ARTICLE: CLICK HERE

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Manatees, Facing a Crisis:

In a first, wildlife officials have decided to provide food for the mammals, which have suffered catastrophic losses in Florida waters over the last year.

By Catrin Einhorn – Dec. 7, 2021

The starving manatees are easy enough to spot. You can see their ribs through their skin. They surface to breathe more than normal. Those most in need appear off balance, listing to one side.

As manatee deaths spike and Florida rescue centers fill up with malnourished animals, federal and state wildlife officials are trying something new in an urgent effort to help the species through the winter: They will provide food, as needed, at a key location on the state’s east coast where hundreds of manatees cluster when water temperatures drop.

“This unprecedented event is worth unprecedented actions,” said Thomas Eason, assistant executive director of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, at a news conference on Wednesday.

The decision is a fraught one, because scientists have found that feeding wild animals can do more harm than good. But Florida’s manatees, already threatened with extinction, have suffered catastrophic losses over the last year. Statewide, more than 1,000 have died in 2021, a record. (In 2016, about 8,800 of the mammals remained in Florida waters, according to state wildlife officials.)

2021 Has Been a Bad Year for Manatees

A joint task force of state and federal officials has linked the increased deaths to the loss of sea grass in the Indian River Lagoon, a 156-mile estuary where manatees, also known as sea cows, seek warm water in winter months.

The sea grass was killed off by algae blooms fueled largely by human waste and fertilizer runoff from lawns and farms, a problem decades in the making. As more people moved to the region and wastewater infrastructure aged, more waste leaked into the estuary, said Duane De Freese, a marine biologist and the executive director of the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program.

“The manatee situation is a symptom,” Dr. De Freese said. “In 2011, it appears we hit a tipping point.”

Since then, sea grass has died off year after year, he said, and is now down by about 90 percent. As climate change brings more severe storms and sea level rise to the region, the problem is expected to worsen.

A warming trend. European scientists announced that 2021 was Earth’s fifth hottest year on record, with the seven hottest years ever recorded being the past seven. A Times analysis of temperatures in the United States showed how 2021 outpaced previous years in breaking all-time heat records.

U.S. emissions bounce back. After a record 10 percent decline in 2020, America’s greenhouse gas emissions rose 6.2 percent in 2021 as the economy began recovering from the pandemic. The uptick underscored the challenges President Biden faces to fulfill his climate agenda.

Sounding the alarm.

A report on the state of the Arctic highlights troubling and consistent trends in the region that are linked to global warming. Researchers are also growing increasingly concerned about Antarctica, where ice shelves are melting and wilder winds are altering crucial currents.

The manatee feeding will be experimental and limited, officials said, and will likely provide leafy greens such as cabbage and lettuce. That’s similar to what manatees are given to eat when taken into captivity for rehabilitation, said Patrick Rose, the executive director of Save the Manatee Club, a nonprofit group that pushed for the supplemental feeding.

“We hope they will take it,” Mr. Rose said. “There’s no guarantee.”

The effort comes with risks. Boat strikes also kill manatees, so further habituating them to vessels or people could be deadly. The feeding program is expected to include measures to prevent that from happening, and to clean up any uneaten produce so that it does not fuel further algal growth.

Wildlife officials urged the public to refrain from feeding manatees. To help the animals, they said, locals should take measures to improve water quality, such as avoiding fertilizer and pesticides on their lawns, and switching from septic systems to a municipal sewer, or upgrading septic systems if that is not possible.

Research focused on other species indicates that wildlife feeding, while well intentioned, can disrupt migration patterns, spread disease and …

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Florida is scrambling to prevent another horrific year of starvation deaths among the beloved mammals

By Lori Rozsa – Article Courtesy of: Washington Post

ORLANDO — On an unusually cold winter morning in central Florida, Corleone the manatee was awakened before dawn by wetsuited workers who slipped into his pool at SeaWorld and wrapped him in a long vinyl sling.

A crane slowly hoisted him out of the water and carefully lowered him to the rear door of an empty box truck, where other staff pushed, pulled and slid their “manatee burrito” inside. Two hopped in to keep Corleone company on his latest journey.

“He’s very chill. He’s such a good traveler,” rescue specialist Maggie Mariolis said. “He should be, because he’s done a lot of it lately.”

Saving the Manatees: Florida’s Atlantic Coast

Mariolis was part of the team that in mid-November brought Corleone some 310 miles from Hilton Head, S.C., where he’d gotten stuck in a canal near a golf course, far from his winter feeding grounds in Florida and at risk of succumbing to cold stress. Ensuring his survival was part of an increasingly urgent effort to save the manatee population, which has been dying off at alarming speeds in the past 14 months, especially along Florida’s Atlantic coast.

Last year alone, 1,110 manatees died — about 15 percent of the total population in a state where they are beloved. Most perished from starvation because the sea grass beds on which they feed have been destroyed by pollutants and toxic algae blooms worsened by climate change.

The wildlife officials and biologists trying to minimize further losses recently took the unprecedented step of setting out fresh heads of romaine and Bibb lettuce daily for hungry manatees gathering in the warmer outflow waters of a power plant near Cape Canaveral. The experiment made little progress initially, with many people fearing the animals could be in for another brutal winter. “Carcass removal” is now a state priority, one official acknowledged.

But within the past week, some three dozen sea cows were observed munching on the lettuce. Wildlife officials said the animals ate 450 pounds of produce in a day.

“It looks like that’s starting to have some success now,” said Patrick Rose, executive director of the Save the Manatee Club, who visited the site Thursday. “I’m very optimistic.”

Florida has five manatee rehabilitation centers, which are working under emergency conditions. Manatees usually spend three or four months in care — at an average cost of $40,000 — but the rescue operations are having to move recovering mammals out as quickly as possible to make room for the malnourished ones coming in.

Saving the Manatees: All the centers are overwhelmed.

“We’re full right now. We’re trying to find more bed space, so we’re shuffling animals around,” said Craig Miller, curator of mammals at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. “When we have manatees that are stabilized and we’re confident they can be released, even if we’d prefer to keep them and fatten them up for another month or so, we need to release them to make room. That’s what we’re facing.”

In mid-January, SeaWorld sent four much-improved manatees to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio. Corleone’s departure on Tuesday opened up space for another creature, and his release into the wild was one of the few positive notes. It meant he was strong enough.

He’d arrived in Orlando on Nov. 17, a young adult weighing about 730 pounds. He was put in a pool at SeaWorld with two other manatees and given all the romaine he wanted. He went through daily weigh-ins and had vital signs checked by a team of veterinarians and rescue specialists. During the next two months, he ate his way through enough greens to now tip the scale at 845. His optimal adult weight is about 1,000 pounds.

In the back of the truck driving him to his new home, Corleone was content to snuffle the air a few times, blink a little at the lights and sleep, swaying with the bumps and turns as he and his escort team headed up Interstate 4 and then down country roads to Blue Spring State Park.

When they arrived, there were no cranes or pulleys to help the 14 volunteers and staff remove Corleone from the truck. They gently lowered the sling to the ground, then lifted and dragged it through the dirt and down a few wooden steps to a small beach where the St. Johns River meets Blue Spring. A park ranger had counted 538 manatees there the day before, so the new arrival would have a lot of company and food. Sea grass is plentiful in the area.

The team floated the sling into the water, and with a little nudging, Corleone swam free. “This is the best part of the job,” Mariolis said.

The only real break manatees have gotten recently is the weather. Except for a few brief cold snaps, Florida has enjoyed an unusually mild winter. When the mercury dips low, however, cooling water temperatures can prove lethal despite manatees’ blubbery protection. That’s why they traditionally gather in the state’s myriad springs, where waters may remain as warm as 72 degrees.

The feeding experiment in the Indian River Lagoon began as temperatures fell below 68 in some waterways and the animals sought out cozier feeding spots such as the area near the Florida Power & Light plant. Rose believes the pilot program there needs to be expanded.

Saving the Manatees – They are Malnourished

“For those manatees that are already malnourished that are coming into the winter in a state of starvation, they’re going to need help,” he said. “The supplemental feeding will do the job it needs to do, but we still need capacity to help the manatees that need to be rescued today. We’ve just been lucky it hasn’t been as cold.”

The federal and state agencies that oversee manatee protection continue to focus on the crisis. Twenty manatees have been rescued on the Atlantic coast in the past month. Most were significantly underweight.

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Article Courtesy of: Defenders of Wildlife

ST. PETERSBURG, FL NOVEMBER 17, 2021

Today, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced that 1,003 manatees died since the start of 2021. The Unusual Mortality Event (UME) has claimed the lives of more than 10% of the estimated statewide population, including 20% of those on the Atlantic coast, shattering the previous statewide record of 830 deaths in 2013.

Manatees Died:

“Widespread pollution is destroying manatee habitat and starving them in the process,” said Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife. “Without immediate action, this tragedy will continue to play out year after year, setting back decades of progress to recover this threatened species.”

Scientists are studying the causes of the UME, likely the result of several factors working in tandem with devastating results. Manatees are suffering due to compromised habitat and lack of food, phenomena fueled by overdevelopment, water pollution, and climate change-driven water temperature shifts.

With more than 21.5 million residents and growing, Florida is the third most populous state in the country. In recent years, a combination of agricultural, residential, and industrial runoff—exacerbated by lax enforcement of water quality laws and weak oversight of land development—has fueled algal blooms that have killed tens of thousands of acres of seagrass, starving manatees until they are weakened or die.

Manatees Died:

While the species has rebounded since its inclusion on the Endangered Species List in the 1970s, manatees remain extremely vulnerable to numerous threats, including habitat destruction, watercraft strikes, climate change and water pollution. Warming water temperatures and nutrient pollution favor the growth of harmful algae throughout much of the year. At the same time, extreme cold weather events intensified by climate change can also have chilling effects on the water, causing the manatees to develop cold stress and die.

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Article Courtesy of: Florida Health

Algae are plant-like organisms that sustain marine life. They contribute to the food chain and to the oxygen that keeps water bodies healthy. But sometimes, when conditions are right—warm water and increased nutrients—certain algae can quickly grow and overpopulate. These foam, or scum-like masses are called blooms, and can be pushed to the shore by winds, waves, tides and currents. Some blooms release toxins that make ecosystems, animals and people sick: scientists call these harmful algae blooms or HABs (harmful algae blooms). In Florida, we find HABs along our saltwater, freshwater and brackish water bodies.

HABs are temporary and usually happen in late summer or early fall. They can last three to five months, sometimes longer, and can affect small and large areas.

As some HABs decay they release a bad odor. Hydrogen sulfide is one such foul smelling gas that is a naturally occurring, colorless product of decomposition. It can smell like rotten eggs. The human nose is very sensitive and can smell the unpleasant odor of hydrogen sulfide at very low levels. The Florida Department of Health completed testing in 2016 and 2018 for the presence of hydrogen sulfide in the air during HAB (harmful algae blooms) events. The results from both studies indicated very low, non-hazardous levels. The smell can cause respiratory irritation, but is not harmful to your health. If you are irritated by the strong odor or have breathing difficulties move away from the source of the smell. Symptoms should end a short time after the odor disappears or the exposure to the odor ends.

HAB (harmful algae blooms) species in the Gulf of Mexico.

Karenia brevis is Florida’s most common red tide organism. Dark red or brown, sometimes with a yellowish tint, this red tide produces brevetoxins that can kill marine animals, and make land animals and people sick. If you’ve been around red tide, you may have had the “red tide tickle”: the itchy throat and cough caused by breathing in brevetoxins that have been released into the air and water when wind and waves break open the cells of the algae.

SYMPTOMS?

Stay away from red tide. Even if you’re not prone to respiratory issues you should be careful: these toxins can cause breathing problems, and can irritate your eyes, nose and throat. Reactions to red tide are worse for people with asthma, emphysema, bronchitis or any chronic lung disease. If you have health issues, stay away from areas with red tide. Pets can become sick from red tide so keep them away from those areas, and contaminated marine animals and fish.

If you come into contact with red tide, wash off with soap and water. You can get relief from respiratory symptoms by being in an air-conditioned space. For people without asthma or chronic respiratory problems, over-the-counter antihistamines can help. If your symptoms don’t get better, see a doctor.

SWIMMING:

Don’t swim in or around red tide because the toxin can cause skin irritation, rashes and burning and sore eyes.

DEAD FISH:

Red tides can kill fish and other marine life—avoid contact and don’t swim or walk in these areas. Keep your pets away from these areas.

RED TIDE AND FISH:

Don’t harvest or eat distressed or dead fish (or any animals) from or near a red tide. Fish caught live and healthy can be eaten if filleted and rinsed thoroughly with fresh water.

RED TIDE AND SHELLFISH:

Check local harvesting status at Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Crabs, lobsters, shrimp, clams, oysters and scallops are filter feeders that can concentrate toxins—these and other shellfish, if harvested from red tide areas, can be contaminated with brevetoxins. The muscle of the scallop is free of toxin but the rest of the scallop is not (recipes using scallop muscle are safe to eat). Your safest choice is to not harvest or eat shellfish from affected areas.

You could suffer from Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning (NSP) if you eat contaminated shellfish. NSP symptoms include: nausea and vomiting; tingling of the mouth, lips and tongue; and slurred speech and dizziness. Neurological symptoms can progress to partial paralysis and respiratory problems.

Blue Green Algae:

In water bodies with blue-green algae, if people or animals splash or if boats create wakes, the cyanotoxins in the algae can release into the air. The toxins mix with water droplets and spray—that’s how people and animals can inhale the toxin. These toxins can’t pass through your skin easily so swallowing large amounts of contaminated water is what causes illness. This algae is blue, bright green, brown or red, and can have a strong odor like rotting plants. Pets can become sick from blue-green algae so keep them out of those areas and away from contaminated marine animals and fish.

SYMPTOMS?

Stay away from blue-green algae. For some people, blue-green algae can cause rashes, stomach cramps, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. People who are very sensitive to smells can have respiratory irritation. Sometimes, high exposures of toxin can affect the liver and nervous system.

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The Florida manatee, a subspecies of the West Indian manatee, is a large, slow-moving marine mammal with an elongated, round body and paddle-shaped flippers and tail.

Manatees are herbivores, feeding solely on seagrass, algae and other vegetation in freshwater and estuarine systems in the southeastern United States. Florida manatees can be found as far west as Texas and as far north as Massachusetts during summer months, but during the winter, manatees congregate in Florida, as they require warm-water habitats to survive.

Abundance of the subspecies has increased over the last 30 years, which recently prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to downlist the West Indian manatee from endangered to threatened. However, due to their slow speed and relatively high buoyancy, manatees are often struck by vessels, which is the primary cause of human-related deaths of the species.

Additionally, manatees continue to be threatened by loss of warm-water habitat and periodic die-offs from red tides and unusually cold weather events. Florida manatees are managed jointly by both FWS and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

Abundance and Trends

The total abundance for the Florida manatee population state-wide was revised in December 2018 and is now estimated at 8,810 manatees. This estimate is based on aerial surveys conducted in 2015-2016 and accounts for possible error in the detection of animals using a statistical model developed by FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI). This estimate is higher than previous minimum counts, which were may have been inaccurate since they were based on synoptic surveys that did not account for animals absent from survey sites or not seen by observers.

The recent higher abundance estimate also suggests that manatee numbers are steadily increasing in Florida, an indication that manatee conservation measures are contributing to recovery of the population.

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Manatees Are the “Sea Cows” of the Coasts | Nat Geo Wild

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“Manatees have long struggled to survive with humans.”

Article courtesy of: AP News

St. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Normally giving food to wild animals is considered off limits, but the dire situation in Florida with more than 1,000 manatees dying from starvation due to manmade pollution is leading officials to consider an unprecedented feeding plan.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state environmental officials intend to unveil a limited proposal this week to feed the beloved marine mammals in one specific Florida location to test how it works. This is not usually done with any wild animal, but the situation has become such an emergency that it has to be considered, said Save The Manatee Club Executive Director Patrick Rose.

The club was co-founded in 1981 by Florida troubadour Jimmy Buffet and former governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham.

“It’s the entire ecosystem that is affected by this and will be affected for a decade to come,” Rose said in an interview Tuesday. “This is a necessary stopgap measure. It is a problem created by man and man is going to have to solve it.”

A Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman said in an email that the agency “does have approval to move forward on a limited feeding trial” but that details are not yet finalized. A formal announcement is expected later this week.

The emerging plan would involve feeding manatees at a Florida Power & Light plant in Cape Canaveral, along the Indian River Lagoon on the east coast where manatees congregate in cold winter months because of the warm water discharge from the plant. It would be an experiment involving lettuce, cabbage, and other greens delivered in a controlled manner such as via a conveyer belt, Rose said.

People would not be authorized to simply start tossing lettuce into a Florida bay some place.

“Under no circumstances do we want people feeding manatees. It’s illegal, and remains so,” Rose said.

Manatees have long struggled to survive with humans.

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