The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday announced a plan to more than double the critical habitat designated for manatees in Florida to 1.9 million acres.
The proposed revisions also include a new designation of 78,121 acres in Puerto Rico for the Antillean manatee.
In Florida, the lands affected are 34% federal, 57% state, 7% local government and 2% private. Federal permits or funding within the habitat has to be reviewed by the Fish and Wildlife Service to prevent harm to the species.
Nikki Colangelo, a supervisor with the agency in Florida, said the maps benefit from decades of information gathering and data about manatees.
"We've learned a lot about the areas that they're really using and are most critical to their their survival and conservation," she said. The maps represent "the physical and biological features that are essential for their conservation."
The Florida map adds Silver Springs, Tampa Bay and Withlacoochee Bay.
"One of the main features that are essential for Florida manatee," Colangelo said, "are these areas of water that are warmed by natural processes. So, you know, the spring areas and thermal basins are extremely important for the species."
The revised map is nearly 15 years in the making -- since environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, got the wildlife agency to acknowledge it needed to update the one created in 1977.
The revisions come now, only because the environmental groups continued to press for them and, in 2022, the Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to submit a plan by this month. A comment period is open until Nov. 25.
"So this has been a long time coming," said Ragan Whitlock, staff attorney for the center, "and we're incredibly happy that it came out. We may be able to nitpick certain items -- and we'll certainly submit formal comments along the way -- but this is a critical first step in identifying how we can protect the habitat that that matters the most for the Florida manatee."
Florida had record manatee deaths in 2021 tied to the loss of seagrass caused by pollution in the Indian River Lagoon. After that, the Center for Biological Diversity and others asked the Fish and Wildlife Serive to restored the endangered-species status of Florida manatees.
The agency plans this year to complete a status review -- to see if manatees should be upgraded from threatened to endangered.
Copyright 2024 Central Florida Public Media
