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Enlargeable photo of a manatee underwater

Sylvain Cordier/NPL/Minden Pictures

Florida manatees weigh about 1,000 pounds. They eat roughly one-tenth of their weight in seagrass each day.

GEOGRAPHY

Saving Florida’s Manatees

After years on the rebound, the beloved marine animals are in trouble. Their habitat is under threat, and rescuers are rushing to help

World map highlighting the Indian River Lagoon in Florida

Jim McMahon/Mapman®

On a chilly January morning, dozens of wildlife workers and volunteers dropped heaps of lettuce into Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. The bright-green bunches floated on the water, then were gobbled up.

The leafy greens are part of a feeding program to save manateeslarge, plant-eating marine mammals. The seagrass that makes up the bulk of their diet is dying off in Florida waters. Without the hundreds of thousands of pounds of supplemental food this past winter, many manatees would have starved

Still, nearly 2,000 manatees have died over the past two years, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. About 6,500 to 8,500 manatees remain in the area.

It’s an emergency situation,” says Patrick Rose, an aquatic biologist and executive director of the Save the Manatee Club, based in Maitland, Florida. “Without a chance to eat enough food, many literally were dying right and left.”

Rescuers are rallying to help before it’s too late

Enlargeable photo of a group of manatees feeding on lettuce

Patrick Dove/TCPALM/USA TODAY NETWORK/Imagn

Manatees eat lettuce as part of the feeding program in Indian River Lagoon.

A Shortage of Seagrass

Florida manatees are a subspecies of West Indian manatees. For most of the year, the gentle giants forage for food along the coast of Florida (see map, below). But unlike whales and seals, manatees don’t have blubber to insulate them against cold. So during the winter, they retreat to the state’s inland waterways, which tend to stay warmer

The manatees gather in warm-water refuges, such as Indian River Lagoon. But in recent years, there hasn’t been enough natural vegetation there to feed them

Scientists say pollution from decades of development, sewage, and fertilizers has clouded the water and blocked the sunlight that seagrass needs to grow. In Indian River Lagoon alone, about 60 to 80 percent of the seagrass has been lost.

The difference was especially stark in 2021. “When manatees showed up, the seagrasses just weren’t there to sustain the numbers,” says Ragan Whitlock with the Center for Biological Diversity, a group in Florida that works to protect endangered species. And the crisis continues, he adds. “It’s incredibly heartbreaking,” Whitlock says.

Enlargeable photo of boat labeled, Manatee Research and Rescue with crew members pulling up manatee

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission via Flickr

A rescue crew transports a sick manatee for medical aid in January 2023.

Manatees at Risk

This isn’t the first time that manatees have been in trouble. Nicknamed sea cows for their underwater grazing, manatees have long faced threats from human activity, such as habitat loss and collisions with boats

In the 1970s, their population dwindled to fewer than 1,000, and they were added to the endangered species list. Safeguards were put in place to restore their habitat, including limiting boat speeds. The changes provided the slow-moving creatures with protected areas where their population could grow.

All that made a difference: By 2016, more than 7,500 manatees were estimated to be in Florida. “There was tremendous progress for many decades,” explains Rose

The increase in numbers led federal officials to downgrade the animal’s classification from endangered to threatened in 2017

Rescuing Manatees
Watch a video about efforts to rescue and rehabilitate Florida’s manatees.

A Wake-up Call

Photo of manatees underwater

Pascal Kobeh/NPL/Minden Pictures

Manatees gather in a natural spring in western Florida.

Now, because of the large die-off, several environmental groups, including the Save the Manatee Club, are asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to relist the manatee as endangered. The state of Florida is also investing millions of dollars to restore the animals’ habitat, including the seagrass.

In the meantime, rescue workers continue to care for sick and malnourished manatees. About 160 manatees have been nursed back to health at rehabilitation facilities over the past two years, with many returned to their habitat, says Rose. And, if needed, the Indian River Lagoon feeding program will continue next winter

Still, wildlife officials caution such efforts are just a short-term solution. The focus, they say, needs to be on passing tougher rules to clean up the water so the seagrass can return

We all love and appreciate this iconic species,” says Whitlock. “I think the history of manatee recovery has proven that we can bring them back.” 

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Geography

Rescuing Manatees

Watch a video about efforts to rescue and rehabilitate Florida’s manatees.

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Leveled Text: Saving Florida's Manatees

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