In Florida, manatees are listed as threatened by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Lately, there has been a high rate of manatee mortalities, which is being investigated by the Florida Manatee Program. Today, the manatee population is at around 7, 520 manatees in Florida.
The problem with the manatee population being threatened in Florida is that they are considered a keystone species. This means that they are essential to their habitats and without them, these environments will fall apart. This species is very important because researchers can observe the behavior of these manatees to keep an eye on any possible environmental changes that may occur.
Environmental changes that may affect the behavior of manatees includes changes such as an increase in pollution, a chemical imbalance, or climate change. Changes in their behaviors can also make researchers aware of possible incoming storms.
There are multiple acts and laws to help protect Florida manatees such as a Florida State Law that was enacted in 1893, the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Endangered Species Act. One of the purposes of these are to protect both manatees as well as other marine mammals from the dangers we, as humans, expose them to. This includes things such as pollution, causing damage to their habitats, and physically harming them with the propellers of boats, even though it's usually unintentional.
With the amount of damage already done, it can be difficult to find ways that will truly make an impact on these manatees. However, even doing just a little to help these animal can make a difference, even though it may not seem like it. Some things you can do to help them include not littering, especially on the beach or on a boat, being cautious with the speed of your boat's propellers when you are in an area that is known to have manatee sightings, reduce your use of plastic when possible, and when you use plastic, be sure to recycle. A lot of these things may seem like common sense, and yet there are still people who harm the world by not listening to this advice.
I found your post to be very informative. I didn't really know what a manatee was before our trip. I was unaware of them being a keystone species, which makes me what to learn even more about them. It is sad that there population has been declining and more should be done to prevent accidental deaths.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this post had a bunch of good information on it, but I was so excited to see a manatee in person. It was so cool.
ReplyDeleteHaving done a handful of research papers on manatees and dugongs around the world, I have a huge soft spot for these sirenians. In addition to the threats they face that you listed in your post, Florida saw a record loss of manatees at one time during a mass die off event last year that was caused by starvation due to the loss of seagrass beds. As manatees are herbivores, their food source in Florida waterways is seagrass. As we continue to harm Florida's marine environments with pollution and excess nutrients causing algal blooms that decrease light availability for marine plants as well as create anoxic conditions, and increasing the temperatures of shallow waters in manatee habitats such as the waters surrounding a power plant in Riviera Beach that make it harder for seagrasses to survive, we will continue to see starvation deaths of West Indian Manatees in and around Florida. Since the number one identified cause of death at the moment for manatees in Florida is starvation, we have to begin restoring and protecting seagrass beds so that we can restore the manatees' food source and therefore the manatee population.
ReplyDeleteThe first picture you included in your post is a great way to connect the information we have learned over the past few years about manatees to last week. It is a whole other feeling to experience something face to face in the wild versus by picture in the classroom. I did happen to notice the scars on the manatees we saw out on the shark tagging boat. Sam mentioned the seagrass beds being replenished as a way to help out the population and I remember one article/study that used cages to protect regrowth from not just manatees but turtles and it did end up working. But only for a short period of time. I just hope theres more ways to help out in the future!
ReplyDeleteI liked reading your post Rachel because I took another class this semester that focused on manatees for part of the semester. I agree that these animals are facing problems both from humans and environmental changes. It is sad to see online how many pictures there are of injured manatees from boat propellers. I am happy that as a community that we are making acts and laws to help protect Florida manatees. This is the right step into hopefully rebuilding their numbers so they don't become extinct in Florida. I was happy we all got to see one while we were there.
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel! I am so glad you highlighted the manatees. I took marine mammalogy this past spring so seeing them in person. I had never seen one before this, only pictures. I am super fascinated that they do not have any natural predators. Any predators that can handle their size cannot get through their fat. It simply costs them too much energy to make it worth it. Humans are their top predator, due to the boat accidents like you mentioned. I am a big fan of the Endangered Species Act as well as the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
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