The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is building a new marine mammal complex at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. According to Jonathan Veach, FWC Information Specialist, the facility will feature two adjacent buildings: A pathobiology lab for manatee and dolphin necropsies and an administrative center.
A necropsy is a non-human post-mortem examination.
The City of St. Petersburg has yet to receive detailed plans outlining the project, but a permit application has been submitted. FWC’s total budget for the project is $17 million, with $11.7 million dedicated to the buildings themselves, Veach said.
Construction on the complex should begin in the near future, with a tentative date of spring 2026, contingent on city permits.
The planned lab will have more space for marine mammal necropsies, and feature an observation room for students and other guests.
According to FWC, 565 manatees died in the state in 2024. Approximately 30% of the deaths were human-related, such as boat strikes or injury due to water control structures (water measurement tools, dams et cetera).
Dr. James Powell, Chief Zoological Officer & Executive Director of Clearwater Marine Aquarium’s Research Institute, said necropsies are “extremely important” to help determine threats to manatees and other marine mammals.
By performing a necropsy, scientists can learn more about injuries, diseases and other causes of death. For example, red tide’s effect on manatees, or determining what specific boating conditions contribute to manatee injury.
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In turn, they can share this valuable information with wildlife managers, policy makers and the public to help shape local regulations.
Necropsy data can show trends throughout a span of years, Powell elaborated. “It also gives you an indicator of whether something is happening that, over time, is increasing or decreasing the number of deaths.”
This data is more necessary than ever, he said. “Manatee deaths are not going down. They are continuing to rise, and so the number of carcasses that are in need of necropsy is increasing.”
The FWC also plans to use the new complex as a staging area, where the organization can prepare for manatee rescues. For a manatee rescue to be successful, it takes a lot of people and specialized equipment such as customized trucks, said Veach. With the new buildings, FWC’s team will be able to better execute rescue operations.
For FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, the complex is an investment in the future. Having a state-of-the-art space to conduct research and prepare for rescue missions will allow the organization to work more effectively.
“It will allow our staff to more quickly fulfill their mission in manatee research and response, just in terms of having the physical space to do a lot of this research,” Veach added. “Sometimes that can be difficult to find. It’s going to allow them to accomplish their mission even more successfully than they have in the past,”
FWC, which has been planning the complex for four years, currently has a lab on the Eckerd College campus, which has been used by the organization’s scientists as well as Eckerd students for more than 30 years.
The successful decades-long collaboration between FWC and Eckerd resulted in a long-term lease agreement for the new complex.
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