Governor Ron DeSantis highlights Florida’s successful efforts to protect Florida’s manatees
Press release from the Office of Governor Ron DeSantis
ORANGE CITY, Fla. — Today, Governor Ron DeSantis highlighted funding to protect Florida’s manatees and improve water quality while visiting Blue Spring State Park. In January, Blue Spring State Park saw a record 932 manatees seeking warm waters in the spring, beating their previous record on New Year’s Day of 736 manatees. Governor DeSantis has prioritized funding for manatees and water quality improvements that enhance manatee habitats, investing over $50 million in manatee programs and more than $1.8 billion in water quality improvements since 2019. As a result, in 2023, Florida manatees had the lowest mortality rate since 2017.
“Florida’s manatee population continues to strengthen because of our record investments in manatee protection programs and water quality improvements,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “I am grateful for FWC for their proactive rescue and rehabilitation efforts.”
“Under Governor DeSantis’ leadership, over $30 million in the Fiscal Year 2022–2023 budget was allocated to enhance and expand manatee rescue and rehabilitation efforts and provide habitat restoration for areas where manatees are highly concentrated,” said Roger Young, Executive Director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “We are grateful for his continued dedication to providing resources for manatee care and rehabilitation.”
“Clean, sustainable water resources are critical for Florida’s residents, visitors, economy, and manatees,“ said Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Shawn Hamilton. “Because of Governor DeSantis’ vision and leadership, along with the support of the Florida Legislature, the state is seeing incredible momentum for environmental protection to ensure Florida’s natural resources are preserved for generations to come.”
Since 2019, Governor DeSantis has approved more than $50 million for manatee protection, expanding and enhancing manatee rescue and rehabilitation efforts and providing habitat restoration for areas where manatees are highly concentrated. Additionally, Florida has invested $325 million to restore Florida’s world-renowned springs which serve as an important manatee habitat when the animals seek warmer waters in the wintertime.
Governor DeSantis has also prioritized investments in water quality across the state, approving more than $1.8 billion for water quality improvement projects since 2019. This includes more than $163 million dedicated to projects in the Indian River Lagoon on the east coast of Florida, which is home to thousands of manatees.
In the Governor’s Focus on Florida’s Future Budget Proposal, he has called for more than $330 million to continue targeted water quality improvements. This includes $100 million for a second year to continue the Indian River Lagoon protection program. Additionally, the Governor has proposed $9.5 million to continue Florida’s successful manatee protection programs.
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I think that it is a win that we clean up the environment but if you let the manatee population get out of control then you end up chasing your tail. They have no predators. When they converge on the warm waters they do two things. Eat and defacate. These animals are NOT indigenous. This results in vegetation being destroyed along with the water quality. It’s just like if you take 100 cows off 200 acres and put them in a 5 acre pen. (Hence the nickname “sea cow”). That’s why you have private and government groups feeding them. The environment can’t handle the pressure. It becomes an endless circle of destruction and repair. All this occurs at tax payer expense. This really only benefits and/or subsidizes the tourism industry and makes people who have no concept of the balance of nature feel good about themselves.
Get your facts straight.
Manatees ARE by every measure indigenous to Florida and this area.
Their current and historical diet is aquatic vegetation.
The only predator to Manatees are humans, by way of boat props, habitat destruction and water quality degradation.
It is my opinion that Manatees are perhaps one of the most beloved animals indigenous to this area. To see one is to marvel at their gentleness and peacefulness.
If you would do a little research you would discover that manatees were not indigenous. They were brought here by aboriginal people thousands of years ago for the purpose of food. This was observed by early explorers and evidenced by the bone and skulls left in piles. Also if you check out their genus names which are West Indies, African and Amazonian. They have adapted to the colder climate by traveling to rivers, springs and other warm water sources like power plant discharges. Manatees are killed by boats but they also suffer from starvation. The result is destruction of habitat and water quality. This affects many species. There must be a balance between habitat and ALL species that inhabit our environment. I know that this is an emotional issue for people like you, but my facts are correct.
Old Timer, what’s the source of your claim that manatees are not indigenous to Florida? I haven’t read that before, in fact I have always read the opposite. Environmental loading, that is a plausible issue if there were hundreds of thousands of manatees, so maybe a hunting season would fix that.
There are a lot invasive species – pythons, anaconda, tilapia, African termites, Red Lionfish, Red Fire Ants, and so on, but manatees?
See my response to Manatee factanista. All the species you listed are also actively trying to be controlled with the exception of tilapia perhaps. There are no listed predators for manatees except for crocodiles. If there are no environmental controls on populations the result is the degradation of the habitat that supports them and affects all species. I’m not saying wipe them out, but in my opinion they offer no benefits other than for the tourism sector which is being propped up by our tax dollars.