The seagrass mitigation bill threatens Florida Manatees.
(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.”
