For the second year in a row, more Florida manatees died than normal as the species battles a human-caused seagrass famine.
At least 800 manatees died statewide in 2022 after hundreds succumbed to starvation and malnutrition on Florida’s Atlantic coast last winter, according to preliminary data released this week by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
That follows the record-breaking 1,100 manatee deaths in 2021, caused in large part by decades of pollution-fueled seagrass loss in the 156-mile Indian River Lagoon, often considered one of North America’s most biodiverse estuaries. The 800 deaths exceeds the 5-year-average of 741 manatee deaths per year, a number that increased after 2021′s die-off.
