Manatees are dying in alarming numbers in Florida this year – the toll significantly increased by the “red tide” toxic algae bloom blighting large areas of the coast and threatening wildlife and tourism.
More of the large, slow-moving herbivores, also known as sea cows, have died so far in 2018 than all of last year, according to state wildlife statistics reported on Monday.
A total of 540 manatees had died by 12 August this year, compared with 538 in 2017. Experts blame a cold snap at the beginning of the year and the tide of algae in the Gulf of Mexico for the fatalities.
“We expect the red tide related manatee death toll to rise,” said Jeff Ruch, executive director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a Washington-based non-profit. “We suspect there are a number of carcasses that have not been reported yet.”
Statistics from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission say that red tide is to blame for at least 97 manatee deaths.
The toxic algae bloom has overrun Florida’s southern Gulf Coast this summer, devastating sea life and driving people from the water. Over the weekend, television newscasts warned viewers before they showed graphic video of dead manatees in the water.
Authorities have been removing hundreds of tons of dead fish from the beaches. While manatees don’t eat fish – they eat sea grass, among other greenery – they are affected by the red tide in various ways.
They absorb a toxin through their skin, inhale the toxin when they breathe, and they eat the plants that have the toxic algae on them, said Marilyn Levy Odea, a conservationist and Florida master naturalist who volunteers at a science center in Lee County, along Florida’s south-west coast.
The protected population had recovered in recent years from very low numbers in the early 1990s. Experts say it’s likely that 2018 will rival 2013, when a record 723 manatees died.
There are approximately 6,000 manatees in the waters off Florida. The manatee is native to Florida and is considered a threatened species.