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Tag: Florida manatees

  • Federal wildlife officials eye ‘critical habitat’ expansions for Florida manatees

    Federal wildlife officials eye ‘critical habitat’ expansions for Florida manatees

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    Photo via Three Sister Springs/Facebook

    Federal wildlife officials have proposed expanding designations of “critical habitat” for Florida manatees, potentially bolstering protections in areas ranging from Wakulla Springs in Northwest Florida to the upper St. Johns River in Northeast Florida.

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected Tuesday to publish a proposed rule that would lead to 1.9 million acres being designated as critical habitat, nearly double the amount designated in the past.

    The proposal came after the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and the Save the Manatee Club filed a lawsuit in 2022 to try to force upgraded habitat protections. The federal agency later reached a settlement and agreed to propose revised critical habitat for manatees by this month.

    “For too long, we have degraded and destroyed the Florida manatee’s habitat through pollution, dredging and blocking access to the natural warm water springs vital to its winter survival,” Jane Davenport, a senior attorney at Defenders of Wildlife, said in a prepared statement Monday. “When finalized, the proposed critical habitat expansion will give federal, state and conservation groups the information and impetus to ensure the beloved Florida manatee’s full recovery.”

    The proposal involves 12 coastal and inland areas of the state and focuses on places where manatees go for warm water in the winter and on relatively nearby areas where they forage for food.

    “Florida manatees require stable, long-term sources of warm water, such as natural springs, during colder months to survive,” the proposal said.

    The federal government classifies manatees as a “threatened” species, and the sea cows drew widespread attention in 2021 when a record 1,100 died. Many died of starvation caused by the decline of seagrass beds that are prime foraging areas.

    The state had 800 manatee deaths in 2022, before the number dropped to 555 in 2023, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission data. As of Sept. 13, the state had totaled 451 manatee deaths this year,

    The Fish and Wildlife Service said in the proposed rule that it designated 965,394 acres of critical habitat in 1976, based on where large concentrations of manatees were known to occur. But environmental groups have long sought to get the agency to expand the designated habitat.

    A news release Monday from the Center for Biological Diversity said federal agencies that fund or permit projects in areas of critical habitat are required to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service to make sure the habitat would not be harmed or destroyed. The proposed rule said critical habitat includes waters up to what is known as the “ordinary high-water line.”

    The proposal cited issues for manatees such as natural springs having declining water quality and water flow and algae blooms causing seagrass losses.

    “Examples of special management considerations or protection that could reduce the threat of warm-water habitat loss may include (but not be limited to): establishing and maintaining minimum flows and levels for springs, lakes, and rivers; conducting spring run restoration projects (e.g., remove excess sediment, stabilize creek banks) and removing or modifying dams and locks to improve access; and enhancing existing warm-water refuges or creating alternate warm-water refuges,” the proposal said.

    Other examples of potential protections in the proposal include such things as “improving water quality through reductions in nutrient inputs from stormwater, septic tanks, and fertilizers.”

    The proposal targets certain inland waterways and coastal waters in the 12 areas of the state.

    Generally, they are the Wakulla Springs area in Wakulla County; the Manatee Springs and Fanning Springs areas of Dixie, Gilchrist and Levy counties; areas from Withlacoochee Bay to the Anclote River in Levy, Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, and Pinellas counties; areas of Tampa Bay in Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee counties; areas from Venice to Estero Bay in Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, Hendry, and Collier counties; areas from Rookery Bay to Florida Bay West in Collier, Monroe and Miami-Dade counties; an Upper Florida Keys area in Monroe and Miami-Dade counties; areas from Biscayne Bay to Deerfield Beach in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties; areas from Boynton Beach to Fort Pierce in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties; areas from Vero Beach to the northern Indian River Lagoon in Indian River, Brevard and Volusia counties; areas of the upper St. Johns River in Lake, Seminole, Volusia, Marion and Putnam counties; and the Silver Springs area of Marion County.

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    Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida

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  • Federal judge refuses to toss lawsuit alleging Florida failed to prevent sewage dumps that led to manatee deaths

    Federal judge refuses to toss lawsuit alleging Florida failed to prevent sewage dumps that led to manatee deaths

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    A federal judge this week refused to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that Florida has violated the Endangered Species Act because of sewage discharges into the Indian River Lagoon that have helped lead to manatee deaths.

    U.S. District Judge Carlos Mendoza issued a 30-page ruling that rejected a motion by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to toss out the lawsuit filed in 2022 by the environmental group Bear Warriors United.

    Bear Warriors United contends that the department has not adequately regulated sewage-treatment plants and septic systems, leading to discharges that killed seagrass — a vital food source for manatees — in a northern stretch of the Indian River Lagoon. Manatees have died in recent years because of starvation.

    The state raised a series of arguments in seeking dismissal, including that Bear Warriors United did not have legal standing to pursue the case. But Mendoza wrote, for example, that the group is seeking a series of steps to curb manatee deaths and that he can “easily conclude that if this court were to find in favor of plaintiff, it is likely that fewer protected manatees would be harmed by pollutive sewage.”

    “FDEP (the department) is responsible for regulating, permitting, and revoking (septic systems) and wastewater treatment facilities,” Mendoza wrote. “FDEP has designed and implemented remediation plans to address the nutrient pollution problem in the North IRL (Indian River Lagoon). The (lawsuit) alleged that FDEP’s ongoing failure to use its authority to regulate the sewage more efficiently continues to harm manatees, and thus constitutes an unlawful taking. Therefore, plaintiff has met its causation requirement for standing purposes because its alleged injury is fairly traceable to defendant’s action or inaction.”

    The ruling does not resolve the underlying issues in the lawsuit. Bear Warriors United and the state in June filed competing motions for summary judgment. If Mendoza grants summary judgment to either side, it would short-circuit the need for a trial.

    In its motion for summary judgment, Bear Warriors United said the department “has known for decades that the septic tanks and wastewater plants it authorizes release human nitrogen” that causes such problems as algae blooms in the lagoon.

    “DEP thus authorizes the destruction of the lagoon’s ability to sustain seagrass and other macroalgae which are essential food sources for the manatees’ survival,” the group’s attorneys wrote. “As such, DEP’s regulatory regime for septic tanks and wastewater plants directly and indirectly results in the ongoing unlawful ‘take’ of manatees, in violation of (a section of the Endangered Species Act), and this court must issue an injunction requiring compliance with the ESA (Endangered Species Act) to prevent further take of manatees.”

    But in the department’s motion for summary judgment, attorneys wrote that the state has taken steps in recent years to try to reduce discharges into the lagoon and disputed that it has violated the Endangered Species Act. The motion said the department’s “actions are not the proximate cause of any harm” to manatees, which are classified as a threatened species.

    “The record shows that DEP has not authorized or entitled any party to cause a violation of water quality standards,” the state’s motion said. “It has, instead, worked diligently to restore an impaired water. There is no proximate cause. DEP is entitled to judgment as a matter of law because with no dispute of material fact, it has not violated the ESA.”

    The lawsuit involves part of the Indian River Lagoon from the Melbourne Causeway in Brevard County to Turnbull Creek in southern Volusia County.

    Florida had a record 1,100 manatee deaths in 2021, with the largest number, 358, in Brevard County, the focus of the lawsuit.

    The state had 800 manatee deaths in 2022, before the number dropped to 555 in 2023, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission data. As of last week, the state had totaled 451 manatee deaths this year, with the most, 76, in Brevard County.

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    Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida

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