VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – After a record year of manatee deaths in Florida, U.S. wildlife agencies approved an experimental feeding program on Monday.
Dr. Patrick Rose, Executive Director of the Save the Manatees Club, said it comes at a time when many of the sea cows are starving to death.
“We did just get word that the U.S. Fish and wildlife service has now agreed along with the fish and wildlife commission to approve experimental feeding, supplemental feeding for manatees at the powerplant in Titusville,” Rose said.
In the Indian River Lagoon, the researchers estimate 90% of the seagrass they eat has died off.
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Florida Fish and Wildlife’s latest data shows 1,017 manatees have died so far in 2021. That’s almost double the amount in 2020 and 2019. Most of the deaths are in the Indian River Lagoon.
“With COVID interfering in a sense of how much research was done and how much fieldwork could be done, the situation got pretty bad before they knew just how bad it was,” Rose said.
Save the Manatee Club is a non-profit started in 1981 by former Florida Gov. Bob Graham and singer Jimmy Buffett.
Rose said the mortality problem started in late 2020. FWC rescue numbers show the jump from 96 in 2019 to 120 in 2020 and 133 this year.
Rose said it’s become a financial challenge, too. He said rehab centers like Seaworld, zoos, aquariums and state parks are running out of room.
“For the upgrades, there’s millions of dollars worth of need. We hope the federal government and the state will step up with more of that they’ve done much of it already,” he said.
The FWC just asked the state for an additional $8 million but that won’t be considered until the legislative session in January.
Rose said many manatees in the Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County are already showing signs of starvation. Feeding them will require thousands of pounds of food for the researchers.
Rose said organizations like his are raising money for that now. Plus, more money to feed the manatees coming into rehab sites and seagrass regrowing experiments.
“We’re also working towards looking at nursery areas for replanting stock to be grown, helping other organizations with that process too,” he said.
You can donate to the Save the Manatee Club here.
If you see a sick or injured manatee, you can report it by dialing #FWC on your cell phone.