ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The effort to feed thousands of pounds of lettuce to starving manatees in Florida officially ended for the winter season Wednesday, as deaths of the marine mammals appear to be slowing despite the long-term threat of pollution to their main food source, seagrass.
State and federal wildlife officials said during an online news conference that just under 400,000 pounds (181,000 kilograms) of lettuce was provided to hundreds of manatees at a warmwater power plant site along the east coast where they typically gather for the winter.
It was the second year of the experimental feeding program that was launched because of the deaths of at least 1,100 manatees in 2021, which was by far the most ever recorded. All told, more than 2,000 manatees have died mostly of starvation from January 2021 through March 10 of this year, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The pace of manatee deaths seems to have slowed. Thus far this season, wildlife officials have counted 163 deaths. They attribute the slowdown to various factors including the partial recovery of seagrass in key winter areas and more animals that appeared to be in better physical condition than in the past.
“We’re well below what we experienced the past two winters,” said Andy Garrett, the FWC manatee rescue coordinator.