Florida will feed manatees emergency rations if starvation looms this winter

Romaine lettuce will be used as emergency food for manatees in an unprecedented intervention to prevent the marine mammals from enduring another winter of mass starvation.

A total of 757 manatees died, most from starvation, over the past year around the Indian River Lagoon, where pollution from farms and lawns has killed off seagrass. That pushed the number of manatee deaths statewide past 1,000 for the year.

“It’s against federal and state law to feed manatees for good reason,” said Thomas Eason, assistant executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, speaking at a news conference Wednesday at the Florida Power & Light plant manatee viewing area in Riviera Beach.

“There are all sorts of unintended consequences of that that usually lead to poor outcomes for manatees. So we’ve collectively looked at that and decided that this unprecedented event was worth unprecedented action, and we are prepared to do that.”

Wildlife advocates applauded the move, although they called it a stopgap measure that doesn’t address the water pollution problems that have turned part of Florida’s Atlantic coast into a deadly place for manatees. Fertilizers from farms, lawns and septic tanks have fertilized algae blooms that shaded out seagrass, destroying thousands of acres of grazing areas for manatees in a process worsened by climate change.

“While this program is a much-needed reprieve for manatees, it is a short-term, emergency measure made necessary by a long-term, systemic problem,” said Elizabeth Fleming, senior Florida representative at Defenders of Wildlife. “Until Florida’s leaders tackle the pollution that’s decimating these seagrasses, manatees will continue to suffer.”

It’s unclear whether the emergency feeding will actually take place. State and federal officials said they’ve set up a system to do it so they can move fast if it’s needed.

The majority of last year’s deaths took place in the winter, when manatees clustered around the warm discharge zones of a Florida Power & Light plant in Cape Canaveral and ate all the nearby food. Authorities hope the mild winter that’s prevailed so far continues, allowing manatees to roam in search of food and preventing the need to feed them.

“What happened last year caught us off guard, so we’ve been preparing so this year we can get our response ramped up and we can go into action,” Eason said.

The amounts of food involved in feeding them could be enormous. An average manatee could eat 50 to 100 pounds of food a day.

The Atlantic population of manatees, where the deaths occurred, is one of four main populations in the state. The other three have not experienced a wave of mortality. The state’s total manatee population has been estimated at nearly 9,000.

The federal conservation status of manatees was changed from endangered to threatened in 2017 under the Trump administration, in a move supported by the boating industry and opposed by many environmentalists. They retain protection under the Endangered Species Act, despite the change in status.

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The state wildlife service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have set up a unified command with a field response station at the FPL Cape Canaveral plant to coordinate rescue, feeding and health assessments.

“We understand the importance of a timely response. Our agencies and unified command partners carefully considered all aspects of a short-term feeding trial,” Shannon Estenoz, Department of the Interior assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, said in a statement. “It is critical we help manatees in the short term with actions that are compatible with their long-term well-being and resilience.”

FPL, whose power plants produce warm water discharges that are crucial to manatee survival, announced it would donate $700,000 to rescue efforts, including a rescue transport truck in partnership with the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida.

To report a sick, injured or starving manatee, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at 888-404-FWCC (3922).

David Fleshler can be reached at dfleshler@sunsentinel.com and 954-356-4535. This story was produced in partnership with the Florida Climate Reporting Network, a multinewsroom initiative founded by the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun Sentinel, The Palm Beach Post, the Orlando Sentinel, WLRN Public Media and the Tampa Bay Times.

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Should people feed manatees on their own?

No. It is illegal and often bad for wildlife. The Conservation Commission says: “The vegetation offered by government officials has been carefully selected in consultation with manatee nutrition experts and providing random food to manatees may lead to health complications.” It is still against the law for a resident or visitor to give a manatee food.

See a manatee in need?

Anyone who sees a manatee in distress — sick, injured, entangled, orphaned, dying or dead — should report it immediately to the state’s Wildlife Alert Hotline at 1-888-404-3922.

Tips for viewing manatees safely

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recommends that people do not feed, touch or chase manatees. If you encounter them in the wild, give them space. Do not make a lot of noise or splash if a manatee surfaces near you; doing so can scare them.

What can I do to help?

The state recommends people clean up litter from shorelines and drive safely when boating in shallow water where manatees might be swimming. Florida also offers specialty manatee license plates and decals, and some conservation groups that help or advocate for manatees take donations. (You can always look up an organization’s reputation before you donate using a tool like ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer.) Find more tips on the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission website.