Florida Manatees To Gain Nearly Two Million Acres Of Enhanced Protected Habitat

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a new critical habitat plan to protect a substantial 1,904,191 acres of vital habitat for the Florida manatee and 78,121 acres for the Antillean manatee in Puerto Rico. This proposal marks the first update in manatee habitat protection since the species gained protection under the Endangered Species Act in 1976.

“Manatees have waited nearly 15 years for the Fish and Wildlife Service to fulfill its promise to update these lifesaving habitat protections, so this is a big win for the species,” said Ragan Whitlock, a Florida-based attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Officials recently resorted to emergency feeding trials to try to keep these animals from starving to death due to declines in seagrass. Truly protecting the manatees’ home, including their seagrass food source, is the most important step on their road to recovery.”

Monday’s proposal follows a legal agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, and Save the Manatee Club. The proposed rule highlights the importance of natural warm-water sites and ample seagrass forage. Previous habitat designations were brief and failed to specify acreage amounts for the protected habitat. The prior designation was also issued before the Endangered Species Act required the identification of physical or biological features essential to the manatees’ recovery.

“For too long, we have degraded and destroyed the Florida manatee’s habitat through pollution, dredging, and blocking access to the natural warm-water springs vital to its winter survival,” said Jane Davenport, a senior attorney at Defenders of Wildlife. “When finalized, the proposed critical habitat expansion will give federal, state, and conservation groups the information and impetus to ensure the beloved Florida manatee’s full recovery.”

In 2021, Florida recorded a devastating 1,100 manatee deaths, primarily due to water pollution in the Indian River Lagoon. This crisis shows no signs of improvement. By 2024, over 130 manatee calves have already perished, setting a course to double the five-year average for calf deaths. As research progresses, biologists are increasingly concerned about the lasting health effects of malnutrition on these gentle giants.

“The warning signs that the risks and threats to the very survival of imperiled manatees were escalating toward a catastrophic collapse were ignored for far too long,” said Patrick Rose, aquatic biologist and executive director of Save the Manatee Club. “At a time when the Fish and Wildlife Service should have been working to prevent the imminent loss of thousands of acres of the manatees’ critical habitat, the out-of-touch agency was busy downlisting the manatees from endangered to threatened. Finally, in light of these devastating and unprecedented losses to both the manatees’ critical habitat and the manatee population as a whole, the Service has begun to take steps to stem the bleeding in a world of escalating threats. The Service must now see the job through!”

The Center, along with Save the Manatee Club, Wildlife Advocacy Project, and Defenders of Wildlife, petitioned the Service in 2008 to revise critical habitat for the Florida manatee. The agency found in 2010 that revisions to their critical habitat were warranted but failed to act for more than 14 years. The groups filed suit in February 2022 to challenge the delay.

Animals with federally protected critical habitats are more than twice as likely to move toward recovery than species without such protections. Federal agencies that fund or permit projects in critical habitats are required to consult with the Service to ensure these habitats are not harmed or destroyed by their actions.