A feeding program for manatees is intensifying in Florida as conservation teams search to avoid wasting the marine mammals within the face of a devastating loss in native seagrass, the animals’ favourite meals.

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission additionally launched a large rescue operation this week to assist numerous distressed manatees reported throughout the state. Manatees are presently experiencing an unusual mortality event, probably attributable to a lack of seagrass. Manatees usually graze on seagrass within the Indian River Lagoon, an estuary simply north of Cape Canaveral on Florida’s east coast.

A fee release famous that algal blooms within the lagoon in recent times killed off seagrass, inflicting manatees to starve. There are almost 50,000 fewer acres of seagrass at the moment than in 2009, according to the Guardian, that means that the 7,500-odd sea cows within the state have valuable little of their important meals supply.

To forestall hunger, conservation teams repeatedly distribute lettuce (principally romaine) as a stand-in for seagrass. In a press convention Wednesday, officers introduced that they might improve the quantity of romaine to about 20,000 kilos per week, CNN reported.

“At this point in time, we have been successful. Manatees are eating the romaine,” mentioned Ron Mezich, who works within the Imperiled Species Management Section of the Florida-based fee, in the course of the information convention. “We are exposing large amount of animals to this food source and we are making a difference.”

The first half of 2021 alone noticed 841 manatees die, and a 12 months later it appears the alarming sample has continued. In 2022 to this point there have been over 300 manatee deaths, based on commission data; this month, a group managed to save six of the animals. Animals which might be too frail to handle within the wild (attributable to damage, hunger, or another trigger) are dropped at aquariums to be rehabilitated and later launched.

The manatee feeding program was introduced final 12 months however now’s anticipated to proceed by March, Mezich mentioned. But feeding hundreds of manatees lettuce isn’t a long-time period plan for the inhabitants’s restoration.

“In the bigger picture, this decision is very telling and a strong indication that the coastal ecosystem is no longer able to support manatees, particularly during difficult winter months,” mentioned Jill Richardson, a marine biologist on the University of Miami, in a university release about the present disaster. “I hope it is a wake-up call for all Florida residents and one that promotes significant change.”

The manatee was reclassified from an endangered species to a threatened one in 2017, a label with fewer authorized protections. Unless water high quality improves within the manatees’ habitats, their troubles will persist.

More: After Polluting Their Water for Years, Florida Says It Will Start Feeding Starving Manatees