Sadly, we continue to see manatees dying in Florida in 2024. Manatee deaths have decreased over the last couple of years, but the unprecedented number of deaths in 2021 and 2022 took its toll. More than 1,000 manatees died in 2021 alone, marking the deadliest year on record for manatees living in the warm coastal waters off Florida. The major cause was starvation due to the loss of seagrass beds. In 2022, 800 manatees in Florida died and in 2023, 518.
Manatee deaths are still a major problem, and it’s clear that this beloved towering Floridian icon needs our help. To make matters worse, red tide and harmful algal blooms, which accounted for a spike in deaths in SW Florida in 2023, pose an ongoing threat to manatees. Will you take action now by asking the United States Department of Interior to put the manatee back on the endangered species list?
Currently, the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering whether or not to relist the manatee as endangered after having drastically reduced Endangered Species Act protections in 2017. Interior and the USFWS need to hear from you to demand greater protections for our imperiled manatees..
With voices like yours, together we can help protect one of the most beloved creatures of Florida and keep manatees around for generations to come.