Manatee Awareness Month

November 15th marks the start of the official winter manatee season, when these marine mammals are on the move. When the water temperature dips below 68 degrees Fahrenheit, manatees travel to warm-water habitat. Historically, manatees relied on natural warm springs. But as some springs have been lost to development and electric power plants have been built, manatees have also learned to rely on the outflow from the power plants to provide the warm-water habitat they need. Whether natural or man-made, manatees are in search of a warm place to spend the cold days of winter. Their options are few to begin with, but the real question is: will they be safe when they get there?

Hundreds of manatees will seek shelter in Three Sisters Springs and other warm-water springs in the waters of Kings Bay this winter. Although Three Sisters Springs is part of the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, established specifically to protect manatees, every winter upon their arrival manatees encounter crowds of people whose careless behaviors — touching, blocking them from moving, even trying to ride them — often force them to turn around and head back to colder water. If the temperatures drop far enough, manatees can go into shock, and even die. So while it’s understandable that visitors to Kings Bay are excited for the chance to see manatees in the wild, we need to find a way to let them do so without driving these gentle giants back into dangerously cold waters.

To address the chronic overcrowding and harassment of these endangered animals in Kings Bay, Defenders and our allies have asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to protect Three Sisters Springs as a full winter manatee sanctuary. We also requested new sanctuaries at House and Jurassic Springs, and a strict no-touch policy in these areas to give manatees a place to rest undisturbed through the winter. We called on our supporters to help with this request, and they rose to the occasion, sending more than 76,700 signatures to FWS to increase protection for manatees in Kings Bay.

Sadly, not everyone is committed to providing manatees the protection they need, despite their value to the ecosystem and the economic benefits they bring to the area through tourism. Anti-environmentalists, some boaters, marine contractors and private-property rights interests have long attempted to get the FWS to change the manatee’s status from endangered to threatened in the hopes of being able to get rid of some of the regulations that protect them, like the slow-speed boating zones that help reduce the single greatest human cause of manatee deaths: being hit by boats and other watercraft.

Not long ago, the Pacific Legal Foundation submitted a legal petition to FWS to change the manatee’s status, forcing them to undertake an official status review. And while a change from endangered to threatened may not be justified at this time, a review of the manatee’s status is actually a good thing (in fact, it’s overdue – it was supposed to be completed in 2012). A review will allow officials to take recent information and research into account. So let’s take a quick look at some of that recent information:

• In 2010-2011, more than 650 manatees died due to extreme cold weather, unable to find sufficiently warm habitat. This event set a new record for the number of manatees lost to cold in one season.
• In 2013, nearly 400 manatees were killed by toxic algal blooms on both coasts of Florida, again setting a new record for the number of manatees lost to this cause.
• One of those algal blooms killed off more than 47,000 acres of sea grass habitat in Indian River Lagoon. Seagrass is a critical food source for manatees, and the Indian River Lagoon is recognized as globally important to the species.
• A full 60% of Florida manatees rely on electric power plants, not natural springs, for their warm water habitats, and the future of these power plants is uncertain.
• Manatees still face the threats that originally caused the species to be listed as endangered: boat traffic and habitat loss. Neither of which show any sign of slowing as the human population in the area continues to rise.

In light of these facts, we urge the FWS to keep current protections for the Florida manatee, regardless of their status. FWS will be making their decision in the coming year, and we’ll be taking a close look to make sure that they used all the best science and most recent and important information to do so.

Elizabeth Fleming is the Senior Florida Representative at Defenders of Wildlife