Florida Manatees Are Dying At Unusually High Rates
TOPSHOT - A manatee swims in a recovery pool at the David A. Straz, Jr. Manatee Critical Care Center in ZooTampa at Lowry Park in Tampa, Florida, on January 19, 2021. - Red tides caused by human use of fertilizers, loss of food in their natural habitat and collision with boats are the main causes of manatee deaths. And in 2021, the numbers have skyrocketed. From January 1 to April 16, 674 manatees were found dead in Florida waters, according to the Florida Wildlife Service. That's nearly triple the manatee deaths recorded during the same period for each of the past five years. (Photo by Eva Marie UZCATEGUI / AFP) (Photo by EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/AFP via Getty Images)
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission just released a recent report that shows manatees are dying at an alarming rate.
We are just halfway through 2021 and they already reported around 761 manatee deaths. In the whole year of 2018 there 804 reported manatee deaths.
Jon Moore, a marine biologist at FAU said, “If this continues through the rest of the year, this is going to be one of the highest mortality years ever.”
He speculates that it is because the water quality is worsening in Florida because of wastewater and algae blooms caused by nutrient runoffs in the rivers. He had this to say, “The algal blooms are clouding the water and cutting off light, so the seagrass can’t photosynthesize and sustain themselves.”
Junior is the producer of the Stan and Haney show. He is also a music producer and audio engineer. He was born in Sioux City, Ia, but has lived down in Southwest Florida since a young age.
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