$bp(“Brid_98433505”, “id”:”39860″,”stats”:”wp”:1,”title”:”Florida manatees may be reclassified as endangered species”,”video”:”1456155″,”width”:”16″,”height”:”9″);
FLORIDA – Below the surface of our crystal-clear beautiful water is a dark truth. Our Florida manatees are dying.
Florida Naturalist, Ranger Rob Howell said, “Lee County alone has had 87 manatee kills so far this year, that’s leading the entire state. We’ve lost over 20,000 acres of sea grass just this year, both are breaking last years record and we’re not over the year yet.”
Sea grass is the number one source of food for sea cows. Humans can take that away without even realizing they’re doing it.
“You can drive over a sea grass bed and in 10 seconds you can undo 10 decades worth of growth,” said ranger Rob.
A lack of grasses leaves our manatees starving, but that’s not their only threat. Boat strikes and other human impacts like pollution continue to cut down the population, which creates an unsteady ecosystem.
Ranger Rob says, “every animal has their own part in the ecosystem, sometimes we don’t even know what that part is until that animal is gone.”
Back in 2017, experts thought the species was doing well, so they dropped the manatee’s classification from endangered to threatened.
But according to ranger Rob, “we did it too early without enough research. The fact that they went from endangered to threatened to now hopefully back to endangered, only in about 5 to 6 years, that shows how important it is that we protect these guys because of what a threat we are having on their ecosystem and what a quick change an animal doing well can switch if we stop trying.”
In a report released by U.S. Fish and Wildlife, officials say there is substantial scientific evidence showing reclassification may be warranted. The organization announced it’s starting a year-long manatee study to determine whether another shift in their classification is necessary.
“I’m very excited,” said the naturalist. “Now that they’re starting to see we need to get them back on the endangered species list, it’s going to be not only in the public’s eye already that this is an endangered species legislation to be passed to protect them more, is more of a possibility.”
Which will not only benefit the species in many ways, but also our state.
“If we get the population of manatees to start rising again, not only will we have one of our symbols here in the state….To be able to use for ecotourism, so that’s going to help the economy. Ecologically it’s going to help with the seagrass, it’s going to help with the sediment, it’s going to help with our water quality issues,” said ranger Rob.
But even if manatees are reclassified as endangered and start bouncing back, ranger Rob says, “that’s not a green light to put them back up, they need to stay there until we get out stuff together and we can maintain the ecosystem for these other animals.”
The post Florida manatees may be reclassified as endangered species appeared first on ABC7 Southwest Florida.