Florida manatees once more being fed lettuce to sluggish hunger

Lettuce will probably be on the menu once more this yr for Florida manatees as a part of an effort to sluggish the hunger deaths of the beloved marine mammals, wildlife officers stated Wednesday.

Plans are already in place to renew an experimental feeding program at a warm-water energy plant close to Cape Canaveral. Final yr, about 202,000 kilos of lettuce was fed to manatees that collect there by the 1000’s when the climate turns colder.

The better objective is to cut back air pollution from agriculture, city and sewage sources that has triggered a die-off within the seagrass beds manatees depend upon for meals. One water administration district discovered that there was a 75 p.c drop in seagrass within the vital Indian River Lagoon since 2009.

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“It labored very well final yr. We’ll proceed at that web site,” stated Ron Mezich of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fee. “We hope that is by no means a everlasting scenario. We don’t wish to must feed wild populations.”

The feeding program was launched final winter after a file 1,100 manatees died in 2021, principally from hunger but additionally from collisions with boats. This yr, via November 4, 735 manatee deaths had been recorded, state statistics present.

Manatees are mild round-tailed giants, typically often known as sea cows, that weigh as a lot as 1,200 kilos (550 kilograms) and may dwell so long as 65 years. Manatees are Florida’s official state marine mammal however are listed as a threatened species.

Though the hunger deaths are of nice concern, Mezich stated manatees will not be at risk of extinction in Florida.

Manatees in different elements of Florida will not be at risk from lack of meals and don’t want the romaine and butterleaf lettuce the state will present on the state’s east coast, officers stated.

The precise date for the feeding program to start hasn’t been set however it would probably occur in December.

In the meantime, manatees affected by continual malnutrition proceed to be rescued and rehabilitated at services across the nation, together with SeaWorld Orlando, zoos and different aquariums, stated Terri Calleson, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She stated about 80 are presently being cared for in these locations, together with some orphaned calves.

“It’s nonetheless manner increased than we have been 5 years in the past,” Calleson stated. “We’re already having emaciated manatees coming in.”

The long-term answer is bettering water high quality in order that algae blooms and different pollution-related issues don’t kill the seagrass on which manatees rely, stated FWC manatee program spokesman Tom Reinert.

Though water high quality has improved alongside the state’s east coast and a few seagrass is once more rising naturally, it would take nursery-grown seagrass to revive the manatee meals to acceptable ranges, he stated.

“It’s nonetheless going to take a variety of years,” Reinert stated.