manatee deaths

Ongoing water quality problems have wiped out more than half of the seagrass in the northern Indian River Lagoon.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is asking lawmakers for money to fund initiatives to help manatees.

So far this year, 937 manatees have died in Florida, most of them in the Indian River Lagoon. Conservation groups are scrambling to save them during a record die-off.

An unprecedented 937 manatees have died in Florida in 2021, representing 10% of the animal’s population in the state.

The environmental groups are seeking to strengthen protections of manatee habitat.

Gil McRae of the FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute says the die-off is unusual in that it’s tied to starvation.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio is joining with 10 members of the state’s congressional delegation to call for more action on behalf of the state’s ailing manatees.

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.