TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) — State officials aren’t easy with just $7 million from lawmakers as they struggle to deal with a record year of manatee deaths in Florida’s degraded waters.

Gil McRae, director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, said Wednesday that the cash request was also a component of long-term goals of rebuilding seagrass beds and weaning manatees from synthetic hot water sites. adding spaces near electricity plants, which attract sea cows during the winter months.

The state suffers 1,000 manatee deaths this year, out of an estimated population of around 8,800, with a number of deaths similar to poor water quality along the East Coast.

The leading cause of death has been famine, as the seagrass beds that are the main feeding grounds for manatees in the Indian River Lagoon have declined due to repeated algal blooms over the past decade.

The state estimates that 58 of the seagrass beds were lost in the northern Indian River Lagoon.

“We know we’re going to have a challenge with this specific challenge at Indian River Lagoon for several years,” McRae said.

Lawmakers will request the cash during the 2022 legislative session, which begins in January.

The existing budget includes $8 million for manatee habitat and access to Florida’s grass springs. The commission has five years to use the money.

Efforts are underway to repair aquatic plants near springs along the St. Johns and Blue Spring State Park.

Speaking to the House Subcommittee on Appropriations of Agriculture and Natural Resources, McRae welcomed the allocation of $53 million for thirteen water quality improvement projects announced last month through Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The projects include the removal of more than 3,000 septic tanks and the modernization of 3 wastewater treatment facilities.

“Their main purpose is this nitrogen load in the lagoon (Indian River),” McRae said.

“This is the real water quality challenge you want to solve. “

McRae noted that if the state can “get the right water quality” in spaces with some seagrass beds, the beds “will come back on their own because that’s what they do. “

In the new investment request, the commission is asking for $3 million to repair lakes, rivers, springs and estuarine habitats and $2. 95 million to expand the extensive manatee care network.

Another $717,767 is requested to increase manatee rescue efforts, a call that includes two full-time positions.

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried recently asked the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ask the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to do so. USA List threatened manatees as “endangered,” described as “wrong,” a March 2017 resolution to reclassify manatees as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Fried, the Democratic candidate for governor in 2022, said manatees continue to face the same risks as when in the past they were indexed as endangered: habitat degradation, expansive effects of climate change, pollution, speeding, loss of seagrass and declining water quality. .

The federal firm highlighted in 2017 an increase in manatee population and habitat innovations due to conservation efforts from Florida, Puerto Rico, Caribbean countries, and public and personal organizations.

Until then, manatees had been classified as endangered for part of a century.

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