Posted on 11/27/2021 4:05:58 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
What a bad year to be a Florida manatee. For the first time on record, more than 1,000 of the sea mammals have died in a calendar year — and it’s not even December yet. That could amount to 1 in every 7 of the state’s manatees gone in less than 11 months. Many of them starved, thanks to a die-off of seagrass, a problem worsened by human-made pollution. In the short run, Florida owes it to this iconic mammal to find ways to mitigate the damage. It’s also time to put the manatees back on the endangered species list, which would help their long-term prospects.
In recent years, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has estimated the state’s total manatee population at a minimum of 7,250. Through Nov. 12, the commission has recorded 1,003 deaths, smashing the previous record of 830 set in 2013. As the Tampa Bay Times reported, the year got off to a bad start when manatees returned to one of their typical wintering spots near a power plant in the Indian River Lagoon off Brevard County. Manatees often seek the warmer waters near power plants during cold winter months. But algal blooms in recent years killed tens of thousands of acres of seagrass, a primary food source for the voracious eaters. A 1,000-pound manatee can eat 100 pounds of food in a day, according to the University of Florida. Without enough seagrass, many of the manatees starved.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
You know what manatees did before there was nice warm power plant effluent? They got pneumonia and died during cold snaps, with no one around to record the numbers that were killed.
Excellent Tolerance...
“...when it’s not so humid....”
Lololololollolololl...
Tell the prehistoric Indians that....
No, they were not brought here.
There is plenty of seagrass just off shore of where I live... Enough that the state now has opened a scallop diving season
No surprise, if true. It’s like the caribou congregating around the warm oil pipes in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.
A lot of what they eat when they come up the rivers is invasive water hyacinth...
I live between a cypress swamp, a pine flatwoods, and a dry ridge that was once a sand dune....none are artificial, though there are two annoying invasive plant sspecies and fire ants that I wish no one had introduced.
Rarely do manatees go in the ocean. It’s the intracpastal they’re destroying
Wrong...they are native, and were here long before we were.
Carolina Parakeets, wolves, and mountain lions.
The manatees are the ones not wearing yoga pants
The And lots power plant down here has an observation deck where they hung a freshwater hose to drip over the salt water where their warm water effluent goes out. The manatees come in droves during the cold snaps with calves and all to enjoy the warmth, and you can get close enough to see their whiskers when they come up to drink the fresh water.
The And was supposed to be The Anclote ppower plant before spellchecker got hold of it, lol.
The little tiny Haitian bastards were no picnic, either.
AKA permanent Dem voters, on that last.
I saw a manatee wearing yoga pants at Kroger yesterday. It was horrifying.
I suspect you are correct. The manatees have exceeded the natural limits of their habitat. The population has been growing for a number of years. It may well be that we are now seeing the results of too much success in protecting them.
We’ve seen that happen in so many places with different species, deer a good example. Then when they starve or suffer disease because of overpopulation relative to their habitat, the people who helped them over reproduce skirt any responsibility.
Yes, indeed.
Those who push such policies are often unconcerned with real world results.
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