The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a court settlement made public Wednesday that it will publish a proposed revision by Sept. 12, 2024. The agreement comes in a long-running court case involving the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and the Save the Manatee Club.
The manatee critical habitat designation has not been updated since 1976; it's something manatee advocates have been pushing for since 2008. The state wildlife commission estimates there are about 7,500 manatees in the wild in Florida. The broader issue for manatee survival is improving water quality. Their favored seagrass food is disappearing due to chronic pollution from agricultural, sewage and urban runoff, as well as other sources. Efforts are ongoing to restore the crucial seagrass beds but those are long-term projects.this spring to find that some seagrass is growing back naturally in key habitat areas. But they cautioned it would only take one algae bloom caused by pollution to wipe out those gains.
The Fish and Wildlife Service"has delayed revising critical habitat for a decade, and now the manatee's predicament is so dire that revising critical habitat can no longer be put on the back burner,” said Patrick Rose, executive director of the Save the Manatee Club, which was co-founded by Florida troubadour Jimmy Buffet.
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