Florida wildlife officials fed manatees 400,000 pounds of lettuce during latest experimental feeding program

TAMPA, Fla. - The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has ended its second winter season of an experimental feeding program aimed at preventing manatee deaths.

They were fed nearly 400,000 pounds of lettuce in warm water near a power plant on Florida’s east coast, so they’d have a reliable food source when other bodies of water were too cold for them to eat seagrass, their main food source.

Experts said the program helped.

"We were in a good spot this winter but considering the large number of manatees that were lost, there is going to be an impact on the population that has yet to be defined," said Dr. Martine deWit, a manatee veterinarian. "Plus, we expect to see long-lasting health effects from such a significant impact of malnutrition on manatees."

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More than 1,000 manatees died in 2021, the most ever recorded in a single year. Up to the middle of March of this year, the FWC says more than 2,000 manatees have died.

The majority of deaths occurred on the east coast of the state, specifically the Indian River Lagoon, where harmful algae blooms killed at least 95% of its seagrass – a vital food source for manatees. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service along with FWC approved THE joint plan allowing for the supplemental feeding of malnourished manatees in that area.

It’s unclear if the FWC is going to operate the feeding program again next winter for the third year in a row.  The program costs about $250,000.

Experts say there’s a bit of a silver lining. The pace of manatee deaths slowed down because seagrass has partially grown back, and more manatees have appeared to be in better physical condition.

Conservationists argue that nitrogen, phosphorus, and sewage pollution from agriculture and urban runoff could keep triggering algae blooms.

"Manatees need to find seagrass to survive, or else they will starve to death, and in the sad state of affairs in Florida we’re losing seagrass because we put too many nutrients into our waters, which are causing harmful algal blooms like red tide, and blue/green algae, and brown algae, and that chokes out the water column and kills the sea grass and the manatees starve," said J.P. Brooker from Ocean Conservancy.

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Reducing the number of nutrients that go into the bay will help seagrass continue to grow. Manatees will then have a reliable amount of food, so they don’t starve to death, Brooker said.

"We’ve seen the seagrass come back in places like Tampa Bay when we reduce nitrogen inputs into Tampa Bay. Seagrass came back to the tune of tens of thousands of acres. Now that we're putting more nitrogen into Tampa Bay, we see seagrass die off," Brooker said.

The agency is working on getting an accurate count of Florida’s manatee population by fall, which is estimated right now at about 7,500 across the state.