BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – There’s good news and bad news and Florida’s manatee population.
Fortunately, since the FWC said a record 1,100 manatees died in the state in 2021, that number was reduced by half last year and the year before.
Unfortunately, more manatees than ever last year died before reaching a year old.
That number was 154.
According to the Save the Manatee Club, there’s still reason to be hopeful for the future of the beloved, yet vulnerable sea cows.
Tuesday, News 6 reporter James Sparvero talked with Dr. Beth Brady, the group’s senior science and conservation associate. She blamed the lack of seagrass that was responsible for the record number of deaths four years ago.
”So I guess you can imagine if you haven’t had any food, it’s gonna be really difficult for you to reproduce,” Brady said. “Some of these manatees, the calves that we’re finding are stillborn, but it’s still a good sign to see that we’re seeing more calves. It just means these animals are coming back to be able to reproduce again.”
Brady went on to say that she thinks the death rate for young manatees could be lower in a year.
”If the trend continues the way it is, we would expect it to drop off and hopefully, have more live births as opposed to more stillborn calves, but it still remains to be seen,” she said.
Brevard County just celebrated completing its 100th project to clean the Indian River Lagoon, and like Dr. Brady told Sparvero on Tuesday, back in December, the Marine Resources Council also said a lot more still needs to be done to protect the lagoon and wildlife—like the manatees.
Dr. Laura Wilson, the executive director, presented the group’s annual report card which showed some improvements to the overall water quality.
“We’re in no way saying that the lagoon is healthy and restored,” said Wilson. “There’s a lot of work to do and we need multiple years of progress before we can really start rebuilding the ecosystems to what they were.”
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