The endangered Florida manatee has made little progress toward recovery, principally due to lawsuits. And that progress has been reversed in the last few years due to toxic algae, colder than average temperatures, rampant water pollution and removal of endangered species protections. 

With a population hovering at 5,733 animals, the manatee is in danger of spiraling toward extinction. According to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission, a total of 800 manatee deaths were recorded in 2022 – 400 of which occurred in the first three months of 2022.

By every measure, the Florida manatee population is not recovering it is teetering on the precipice. Yet both state and federal agencies are moving toward reducing protections for the manatee including stripping the species of its endangered status.

What’s Killing the Manatees?

• • Starvation is mounting as seagrasses die off, leaving malnourished animals unable to survive in increasingly colder temperatures.
  • Water pollution, which suffocates seagrasses and spurs toxic algal blooms, also continues unabated, with little if any state enforcement to curb violations.
  • Habitat destruction and disturbance from swarms of tourists in swim-with encounters, or from boaters and fishermen. 
  • Craft collisions from both personal and business crafts traveling in safe zones at speeds too fast for the slow moving creatures to avoid.
  • Unknown: The state has sharply reduced the rate of necropsies, so that precise causes of manatee deaths are harder to pinpoint. In 2022, 406 out of 800 manatees were necropsied leaving ample questions as to cause of death.

Biggest Threat to Manatees? Humans.