manatee deaths

The aquarium has been planning to open a manatee rehabilitation facility for years, but recent spikes in the marine mammals’ deaths have sped up the process.

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission reported that 841 manatee deaths were recorded through July 2 — breaking the previous record of 830 deaths in 2013.

While red tide remains a nuisance for Tampa Bay's beaches, manatees are dying on Florida's east coast due to algae blooms.

The mammals were removed from the endangered species list in 2017, but algae blooms and overdevelopment have killed 46,000 acres of seagrass, leaving manatees without enough to eat.

Sarasota Congressman Vern Buchanan cited the 761 manatees that have died this year.

Preliminary information from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) shows a reduced food supply is contributing to the high death count. Manatees eat seagrass.

U.S. Reps. Stephanie Murphy and Brian Mast have introduced legislation aimed at addressing a sky-rocketing number of manatee deaths since the start of the year.

Manatees are getting $8 million under the state budget lawmakers agreed to this week.

Scientists say a chemical commonly used to kill weeds is increasingly being found in the blood of Florida's threatened manatees. The concentration of glyphosate detected in their systems has increased from 2009 to 2019.

A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission expert told state senators Monday the immediate crisis could be winding down.

In 2020, the state of Florida recorded a total of 637 manatee deaths, and in 2019, 607.According to the preliminary manatee mortality report on FWC’s website, cold stress has accounted for 27 of the 539 deaths so far this year, which we are only three months into. In 2020, there were 52 cold stress deaths for the entire year.

The 400 manatees that have died is about triple the normal number.