More manatees have died in Southwest Florida so far this year than anywhere else in the state, a title nobody wants that the region has taken from the Indian River Lagoon area on the East Coast.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recently released manatee mortality data for the first half of the year showing Lee County leads the state in sea cow deaths with 87.
A majority of the manatees that died in Lee County were not tested after their deaths to determine why. Of those that were, 13 perished while still very young, 11 died due to natural causes, and four were hit and killed by boats.
Pinellas County, which is home to St. Petersburg and Clearwater, is a distant second with 36 manatee deaths so far.
The region from Sarasota south to Collier counties accounted for 149 of the 345 manatees that have died statewide through the end of June.
The state fish and wildlife agency did not give a reason for why manatees have been dying in Southwest Florida waters in wildly increasing numbers so far this year.
One clue may be found in the reason why there are fewer manatee deaths on the East Coast.
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After annual manatee deaths topped 1,100 two years ago and 800 last year, the public outcry led to water-quality improvement efforts in the Indian River Lagoon and fewer red tide blooms.
Dozens of blooms plagued Southwest Florida waters for eight months after Hurricane Ian made landfall in Lee County in September, washing mass tonnage of red tide “food” like fertilizers into the Gulf of Mexico.
Patrick Rose of the Central Florida-based Save the Manatee Club said another reason why Indian River Lagoon may be finding fewer dead manatees is fewer living manatees.
“It’s a significant improvement, but what I also want to make clear is that we’re not out of the woods by any means,” he told Orlando’s News6. “The negative factor in all of this is there are far fewer manatees on the east coast to be counted and therefore far fewer to die.”
Environmental reporting for WGCU is funded in part by VoLo Foundation, a non-profit with a mission to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.
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