ORANGE CITY, Fla. — On an uncharacteristically chilly, breezy, and overcast December day, parking places at Blue Spring State Park were at a premium.
It was a lousy day for a picnic, a canoe ride, or a walk along the St. Johns River.
But what brought a crush of visitors to this oasis in the ever-expanding sea of development wasn't the weather, the amenities, or the waterway. They came to see the more than 200 manatees that were using the 72-degree spring waters as a sanctuary to protect them from winter's bite.
Florida manatees, one of two subspecies of West Indian manatees, are slow-moving, non-threatening vegetarians. These unique aquatic mammals can live in marine, brackish, and freshwater systems, but despite their bulbous shape they have very little protective body fat and can not survive sustained exposure to cold water.
They gather in springs and the warm water discharges of power plants in winter, but cold spells are not the only threat faced by these sea cows, which can reach 14 feet in length and can weigh more than 3,000 pounds.
Compromised habitat, strikes from the propellers of moving boats, and the loss of sea grass that is their primary food source all add up to life-threatening issues for manatees. Patrick Rose, the executive director of Save the Manatee Club, said man's fingerprints are all over the problems manatees face.
“Thousands and thousands of acres of sea grass have been lost and nutrient pollution from man can be blamed,” he said. “It's the hundreds of thousands of failing septic systems and all of the runoff that comes from our highways and lawns – those are the source feeding these algae super blooms that literally shade out and kill the sea grass because it can't photosynthesize.”
With diminished food sources, hundreds of manatees are starving, especially along Florida's east coast.
"We broke the all-time mortality record in 2021 with 1,100 manatee deaths statewide, and 500 to 600 of those were just from the east coast area,” Mr. Rose said. “We are working every day to rescue and rehab the sickk ones.”
He said Save the Manatee Club is partnering with dozens of other organizations and government entities to concentrate their efforts on saving the approximate 8,500 manatees that remain in and around the Sunshine State.
Mr. Rose, who said it would take $5 to $6 billion to take all of the necessary measures to significantly protect and preserve manatees, added that the Environmental Protection Agency is being sued for what he called “insufficient standards” to safeguard the manatee.
“Right now we are working to make a difference to those manatees that need immediate attention,” he said, adding that most all living manatees show evidence of propeller strikes. “We need to stop things from getting worse, all while we work on restoration and recovery.”
First Published January 28, 2023, 6:00 p.m.
