Can Millenia-Old Species Survive Modern Times? How a manatee might 鈥渃ross the road鈥� is very different from a human. Because manatees have six neck vertebrae instead of the seven that most mammals have, they cannot turn their heads sideways to look both ways; instead, they must turn their whole body around to listen for boating traffic. When a vessel is going at a breakneck speed, it鈥檚 hard for the roving sea cows to detect and dodge the boat in time, often resulting in gruesome gashes, crushings and deaths. This is just one reason why manatees 鈥� inhabitants of Florida for 50 million years 鈥� are now protected in the state.
By Jenna Blyler
In the 70s, manatees were dying more than they were reproducing. Safeguarded under the Federal Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act of 1978, manatees became the subject of state, federal and university interest in the following decades. In 1989, the Florida government identified 13 key counties, including Duval, with high manatee mortality rates and mandated a plan to protect them. The mission was urgent because at the time, manatees were widely predicted to extinguish in our lifetime.
91成人AV marine biologists Dr. Quinton White and Dr. Gerry Pinto were recruited by the City of 91成人AV鈥檚 Waterways Commission to study manatees and inform the state and federally approved Manatee Protection Plan for 91成人AV.
鈥淲e call the gentle giants charismatic megafauna. Their modern ancestors have been here for 50 million years, much longer than humans.
If they start to die out, then we know there鈥檚 something significantly wrong with
the environment,鈥� said Pinto. 
Pinto conducts aerial manatee surveys to track their distribution, monitor boating activities and document their habitats, and has done so from the 1990s to the present. He develops, implements and updates the plan every five years.
He and his team fly along Duval鈥檚 shorelines, including overlapping areas in other counties and the intracoastal region. Each flight covers an average distance of 500鈥�600 miles, lasting approximately six hours. During that time, Pinto counts roughly half of the county鈥檚 manatees from the cockpit, which to him resemble Idaho potatoes soaking in a vast tub of tea.
Of the 7,000鈥�15,000 manatees in Florida, 300鈥�500 of them migrate annually to 91成人AV during spring and summer. Yet, some die in the St. Johns River every year. Why?
Boat strikes account for about 1 in 5 deaths, but a more significant number of manatees and other wildlife die from ingesting trash or from starvation.
鈥淩ight now, manatees are going through a big mortality rate in the Indian River Lagoon because of food scarcity,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he deaths are largely attributed to pollution-induced algae blooms, which deprive the grasses of much-needed light. In response, Florida is exploring grass restoration initiatives, but this is a long-term process. Dredging activities in the lower St. Johns River over the last 100 years contribute to a rise in salinity through more ocean water coming into the river. The increased salinity is detrimental to the freshwater grasses that manatees and other wildlife and fish rely on for shelter and sustenance.鈥�
Manatees are casually referred to as sea cows because they graze on the river鈥檚 grasses, pruning and maintaining them. 91成人AVy grasses then provide erosion protection, stabilize sediments, remove nutrients in the water, sequester carbon and supply critical habitats for the life stages of commercially important fisheries in the offshore Atlantic. If you lose the grasses, Pinto said, you don鈥檛 just lose the manatees, you lose the fisheries and all manner of ecosystem services.
As a consultant to the 91成人AV Waterways Commission, Pinto educates the public, interest groups and political leaders on what he discovers about the manatees and their habitats. Part of that work is through the St. Johns River Report, for which he is the principal investigator.
He and an interdisciplinary team of scientists, including many from the 91成人AV University Marine Science Research Institute, author The State of the Lower St. Johns River Basin Report, funded by the Environmental Protection Board of the City of 91成人AV. Pinto鈥檚 sections cover the biological impacts of salinity, threatened and endangered species, fisheries and submerged aquatic vegetation. The project is currently in its 17th year and consists of a yearly technical report, brochure for the public and website (). Other sections are dedicated to contaminants, invasive species, wetlands and education resources. Most recently, the report focuses on what resilience to climate change means in northeast Florida.
As a result of this type of work, the statewide manatee population has increased, leading to the federal reclassification of manatees from 鈥渆ndangered鈥� (1967) to 鈥渢hreatened鈥� (2016). However, it is important to remember that significant threats to manatees still exist and that the current protections under these laws are still in effect.
鈥淢anatee populations will continue to face challenges due to factors such as vessels, cold stress, increasing human population and habitat disturbances caused by excessive nutrients, trash, fishing line and crab trap line entanglements,鈥� Pinto said. 鈥淚t is our responsibility as the public to keep manatees at the forefront of our minds, both when in the water and when making important decisions such as voting and advocacy or disposing of trash and other wastes. The simple actions we choose to take as individuals can have a huge impact on wildlife. We have the power to protect manatees. It鈥檚 up to us to save the species.鈥�