Florida - Tuesday December 5, 2023: A two-year experimental manatee feeding program that was conducted over the past two winters in the Indian River Lagoon has been suspended because wildlife officials have found that conditions have improved for the marine mammals.
The feeding program was a joint effort carried out by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).
"After careful consideration," states the notice of suspension that was posted last Friday on the FWC website, "the agencies are not providing manatees with a supplemental food source at the beginning of the winter season." It goes on to note that "as we move into winter, there are currently no indications that manatees in this region are in poor or compromised body condition."
A record 1,100 manatees died in 2021, mostly in the lagoons along Florida's Atlantic Coast. Manatees were said to be starving because their primary source of food is sea grass and that has been wiped out by pollution in many parts of those lagoons. That's why the feeding program was launched.
However the FWC notice states that "seagrass monitoring in Mosquito Lagoon indicates adequate foraging resources," for the manatees at the start of this winter season.
While the feeding program has been suspended, it has not been cancelled. "Staff developed a "contingency plan for supplemental feeding which they will implement, if needed," according to the FWC notice.
The emergency feeding program was begun in January of 2022. It resumed in November of 2022 and continued over the winter months until March of this year. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of lettuce was feed to manatee from a warm water feeding site near the Port St. John FP&L power plant in Brevard County.
The FWC's preliminary manatee mortality report for 2023 reports 505 deaths through November 24th.