Florida manatees under threat of mass starvation
MIAMI – With winter approaching, Florida's manatees are heading to warmer waters. But that's also where they are facing a life-threatening habitat collapse. The state's official marine mammal is under threat of mass starvation.
Jose Godoy has sailed Miami's Biscayne Bay his whole life and has seen the manatees' main source of food disappear. Where there used to be seagrass, there's nothing but sand – the vegetation killed off by human activity. Godoy is founder and president of the Biscayne Bay Foundation and works to clean up the bay.
"We've been trying to pick up trash, try to keep pollution out of the water, because that's what's killing the seagrass, is pollution," he says.
Even with those efforts, manatees are dying. Florida has around 7,500 of them living in the wild, according to the state wildlife commission. Last year a record 1,100 manatees died, many after starving at the Indian River Lagoon. About 200 miles north of Biscayne Bay, the lagoon is a critical winter hangout for manatees, warmed by the nearby Cape Canaveral power plant. But pollution and algae now block the sunlight, turning the lagoon into a seagrass desert.
Tiare Fridrich is a manatee biologist with the Save the Manatees Club and says, "what's happening is manatees are slowly starving, to the point where they need to be rescued or they're dying."
Last winter Florida wildlife officials started serving up lettuce. More than 100 tons of romaine and butterleaf went down the hatch. And, as winter approaches, more feedings are on the way.
"We think we helped, but whether it was enough to change numbers that much we just can't say," says Ron Mezich, Section Leader for Imperiled Species Management at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Nearly 800 manatees have died so far this year, according to the FWC. Wildlife experts say the real solution is to restore the health of the lagoon, a long and expensive process that could mean life or death for these gentle giants.
