The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and environmental groups have agreed to a tentative agreement to settle a federal lawsuit over the critical habitat needs of Florida’s struggling manatee population.
The stipulated settlement of issues brought up in a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and the Save the Manatee Club was announced in court papers June 1 in the federal district court in Washington, D.C. The accord comes after more than 1,100 Florida manatees died in 2021 and 588 died from Jan. 1 through June 10 of this year, according to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Starvation, habitat loss and polluted waterways caused the deaths of the large aquatic mammals, which can weigh 1,000 pounds or more, environmentalists and state officials said. The deaths have continued this year even as agencies set up a supplementary feeding program for the manatees in Indian River Lagoon.
The original lawsuit filed earlier this year notes that the FWS had concluded back in 2010 that revisions of the habitat requirements for the manatees were warranted to assure the survival of the endangered species. Because the FWS had not updated the habitat designation as of February of this year, the environmental groups sued to get the agency to act.
As a result of the settlement, the parties have agreed to a deadline for revising the habitat boundaries for the struggling species.
“On or before Sept. 12, 2024, the Service shall submit to the Office of the Federal Register for publication a proposed revision of critical habitat for the Florida manatee,” the settlement agreement states.
Environmentalists acknowledge that any direct impacts of the settlement won’t occur until after that date. The deterioration of lagoon and seagrass beds that the manatees depend upon to survive took place over an extended period of time, and many acknowledge that the species’ recovery won’t happen overnight.
“The Service has delayed revising critical habitat for a decade, and now the manatee’s predicament is so dire that revising critical habitat can no longer be put on the back burner,” Patrick Rose, an aquatic biologist and executive director of the Save the Manatee Club, told the Florida Record in an email. “We are pleased that FWS is finally willing to take this essential step to save our imperiled manatees and hope this signals a shift in prioritizing manatee survival and recovery.”
Under the agreement, the plaintiffs will retain their right to seek reasonable attorney fees from FWS, while the agency will have an avenue to contest the plaintiffs’ request to recover its legal fees if it’s found to be excessive.