Manatee Extinction? Water Mammal’s Florida Population Facing Dangerous Algae Levels as More Manatees Die


Florida’s manatee population continues to be in trouble as more of the animal’s bodies have been recovered in Brevard County’s Indian River Lagoon.

It is this salt water body, the Orlando Sentinel first reported, that has seen an influx of dangerous algae pollution levels that have killed manatees and other forms of wildlife in recent years.

Since 2012, 166 dead manatees have been recovered in the Indian River. Slightly more disturbing, however, is that the number includes eight manatees in the past three months.

All of the recovered manatees, the Orlando Sentinel noted, bore “signs of [algae] trauma.”

Despite noting that researchers are still “narrowing down the cause,” veterinarian Martine de Wit told the Sentinel that “The change of vegetation that the manatees are eating makes them to susceptible to complications in their guts. It gives them acute shock.”

de Wit’s team at the Marine Mammal Pathobiology Laboratory, which is housed at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in St. Petersburg, is currently leading the charge in researching ways to combat the devastating algae that troubles manatees.

The manatee deaths were first recorded in July 2012 in the Indian River when this body of salt water, which is located near the Atlantic Ocean, started becoming discolored due to the algae that is also believed to have destroyed much of the sea grass the manatees eat.

While no official cause of death is known, de Wit believes that a new, seaweed-like algae found in the digestive tracts of the dead manatees may have actually caused the animals to drown.

Rescued Manatee
Scientists, researchers, and conservationists in Florida are increasingly concerned with the number of manatee deaths in the Indian River and other waterways due to abnormally high levels of algae infestation. [Image by Joe Raedle / Getty Images]
Scientists believed that this outbreak of green and brown algae, which is also present in other “lagoon system” waterways such as the Mosquito Lagoon (Volusia County) and Banana River (Brevard County), had been on the decline prior to the discovery of a large number of fish and other marine wildlife found dead starting this past Spring.

In other words, manatees and other marine animals could be in trouble.

Despite the presence of algae and dead animals, including the typically 650-pound manatee, leaving the Indian River “reeking,” as noted by the Sentinel, other experts believe that the system is already showing signs of correcting the problem.

Researcher Charles Jacoby of St. Johns River Water Management District told the Orlando Sentinel that his agency has actually recorded small drop offs in algae levels in the manatee waterways, and he noted that “the system is trying to right itself.”

Despite Jacoby’s level of optimism that the river and seemingly at-risk manatee population can recover, state agencies and local conservation groups in Florida believe the key to stopping the problem is to cut off the harmful algae cycle before it continues to grow to higher levels.

Algae
Green or brown discolored water is a sign of algae infestation, such as that experienced in the Indian River and other Florida waterways as manatee populations struggle to survive. [Image by Aaron P. Bernstein / Getty Images]
Officials believe that accomplishing this would involve a struggle to reverse pollution that has occurred over a number of years.

“[The manatee] habitat is far from secure,” said Save the Manatee Club Director of Science and Conservation Katie Tipp. “Their ability to recover is far from certain.”

https://www.facebook.com/savethemanateeclub/posts/10154377742382300

And this belief, Tipp noted, should serve as a definitive “clear message to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which in recent years has considered shifting manatees from “endangered” status to “threatened.”

[Image by Joe Raedle / Getty Images]

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