Lee County leads the state in manatee deaths by watercrafts... again. Florida wildlife officials recently released the mortality rates. It’s the fifth consecutive year that Lee tops the list.
Last year, 20 manatees died in Lee County because of collisions with water-crafts. Brevard County followed with 10. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Scott Calleson said Lee’s numbers are the result of two populations sharing the same space.
First, hundreds of manatees come to Lee during the winter to warm up near the local power plant. And many stick around all year. Secondly, Calleson said Lee is also a very big boating community.
"So I think the combination of a lot of manatees throughout the year and a lot of boats unfortunately ends up resulting in a good number of manatee boat collisions," said Calleson.
He said the 20 watercraft deaths by no means set a record. In 2001, about the same number of manatees died from boating collisions in Lee. But Calleson said the manatee population increased in the last decade or two. So comparing today’s numbers to what they were 15 years ago he said it, at least, shows things have not gotten worse.
