Manatees

It is Manatee Awareness month in November, poignant in particular in Lee County, which leads Florida with more than 100 sea cow deaths so far this year.

Nearly 2,000 manatees died in Florida in 2021 and 2022 as water pollution killed the seagrass they feed on. The manatee was downlisted in 2017 from endangered to threatened, over the objections of scientists, environmentalists and citizens.

Water quality and seagrass health play a big role in marine mammals’ survival anywhere in the state.

More manatees have died in Southwest Florida so far this year. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission found Pinellas County is second in the state in sea cow deaths with 36.

The full Florida Senate okayed a bill Wednesday aimed at addressing the state’s alarming rate of seagrass loss and record breaking manatee deaths.

It comes as some residents and park goers push back on a developer's proposed plan to build a hotel, restaurant, and more on the park's land.

The pace of manatee deaths seems to have slowed following the second year of the experimental feeding program that was launched because of the deaths of at least 1,100 manatees in 2021.

One proposal would create a decade-long seagrass restoration plan after the state saw a dramatic rise in seagrass loss, tied to record manatee deaths.

The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service wants to delist the wood stork from endangered to threatened, which has Florida conservation groups at odds

A record 13 manatees released in one day at Blue Spring, and more at Crystal River and Apollo Beach last week bring the year's total so far to nearly two dozen.

The latest figures are showing that 56 manatees have been found dead so far in Florida this year — even more than last year during the same time frame. That's worrying since last year was Florida's second-deadliest year for manatees on record.

Last year was the second-worst ever when it comes to manatee deaths in Florida. Some 800 mortalities were recorded in 2022.