TALLAHASSEE — Federal wildlife officers will look at regardless of whether manatees should be categorized as an endangered species, pointing to concerns this sort of as a loss of seagrass that serves as a important food items source for the animals.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services on Wednesday issued a document that claimed the agency will carry out a review and that shifting manatees from a threatened species to an endangered species “may be warranted.” These types of a transform could offer larger protections for manatees and would successfully reverse a 2017 conclusion that reclassified manatees from endangered to threatened.
The Heart for Organic Diversity, the Harvard Animal Regulation & Coverage Clinic, Miami Waterkeeper, the Conserve the Manatee Club and Frank S. González García, an engineer, submitted a petition past yr inquiring the federal company to listing manatees as endangered.
“We discover the petition provides substantial information and facts that seagrass loss could be a menace to the species this kind of that it may possibly meet the definition of an endangered species underneath the (Endangered Species) Act,” Wednesday’s doc said. “For that reason, we locate that the petition provides substantial details that the petitioned motion, reclassifying the West Indian manatee as endangered, might be warranted and we will start a standing assessment to figure out if the action is warranted.”
The Centre for Biological Diversity introduced the doc, which suggests it will be printed Thursday in the Federal Sign-up.
“This is the correct call for manatees and anyone who cares about these charming creatures,” Ragan Whitlock, a Florida-based mostly legal professional at the Center for Biological Variety, mentioned in a prepared assertion. “I applaud the Fish and Wildlife Provider for getting the upcoming move toward elevated safeguards. Manatees will need just about every ounce of safety they can get.”
Florida experienced a report 1,100 manatee deaths in 2021, followed by 800 deaths in 2022. The amount of fatalities has slowed this calendar year, with 476 as of the end of very last week, according to data posted on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fee web-site.
A important challenge in the 2021 deaths was a absence of seagrass in places these types of as the Indian River Lagoon, main manatees to starve. That led condition and federal wildlife officials to get a really unusual phase of feeding lettuce to manatees that congregated in warm h2o close to a Florida Ability & Light electricity plant in Brevard County. The feeding was intended to stave off even further hunger.
In 2021, 358 of the manatee deaths had been claimed in Brevard County, even though 110 have been in Lee County, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fee details reveals. As of the stop of final 7 days, 46 manatees experienced died this 12 months in Brevard County, though the most deaths, 103, were being reported in Lee County.
In addition to the decline of seagrass, Wednesday’s doc indicated wildlife officials could seem at other concerns for the duration of the assessment, such as a deficiency of heat-water refugees for manatees during the wintertime, coastal design and boat strikes. It said the overview “will examine all appropriate threats and conservation actions in detail primarily based on the greatest scientific and professional data out there.”
