After Florida’s deadliest year for manatees, new blades of seagrass that spring usually brings and all the dollars donated have delivered slivers of hope for Florida’s favorite at-risk creature, those tasked with saving them say.

But others assert that the threatened sea cows’ plight is far from over, unless we’re willing to spend much more.

“It’s going to take billions and billions of dollars to turn this around,” said Pat Rose, executive director of Save the Manatee Club. “It can’t be done just at the county level. It’s got to be done a federal level. It’s going to take improving the water quality. We’re going to remain optimistic until we see otherwise.”

It helps that the manatee, a clumsy yet charismatic creature, has inspired a groundswell of sympathy and support from Floridians and donors across the globe.

Meanwhile, non-profits are stepping up — big time.

The nonprofit Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida raised more than $168,000 from more than 1,300 donations across the globe.

So did many other people in places nowhere near Florida. Donations poured into the wildlife foundation from Canada, Japan, Germany, Mexico and many other countries, Ashton said.

Her foundation has seen significant money come in for the Florida grasshopper sparrow, the Florida panther and other charismatic creatures, but nothing like this.

“Nobody’s done this before,” Ashton said of the effort.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported they fed more than 202,000 pounds of lettuce to manatees this past winter.

It also prompted the feeding project, a first-of-its kind effort.

‘We’ve got to take every step we can’

Among other money raised by the Fish & Wildlife Foundation is some $900,000 toward seven seagrass rehabilitation sites in the lagoon region, $200,000 of it in one check received from a couple this week.

The replanted grass beds should expand rapidly and become an important food source for sea cows, foundation officials said.

“Eelgrasses are the lungs of the lagoon,” said foundation board chairman Carlos Alfonso. “Two-and-a-half acres of eelgrass can support as many as 100,000 fish and 100 million invertebrates, in addition to providing manatees with a crucial food source.”

The quotes from the foundation’s donors show the strong bonds formed over many years between manatee and humankind:

• “Went on a diving trip with my girlfriend Laurie at Crystal River in 1993. Was nudged by a manatee calf and mother. Best diving excursion ever!”
• “In honor of the sweet manatee that Visited us in the Keys.”
• “Barbie is my favorite manatee (with five gashes across her back). I used to call her ‘my little Buddy’, but this year she showed up with a baby. Hence, she became Barbie. I love my manatees!!”

FWC also plans to pump more money into saving sea cows, including some $3 million for restoring manatee habitat; a similar amount to expand its manatee care network; more than $700,000 for manatee rescue and mortality response; and $160,000 for manatee management.

As always, the emotions run raw when it comes to manatees, which is why so many dollars have flowed their way along with ideas on how to save them.

Last month, Brevard County Commissioner Curt Smith said at a County Commission meeting that the die-off is because the manatee population outgrew the capacity of the Indian River Lagoon to support them and that Florida should consider thinning the manatee herd as it does with black bears via public hunts.

That drew an open letter to Smith from Save the Manatee Club Executive Director Pat Rose in FLORIDA TODAY.

“I submit to you that your callous statements advocating killing off manatees, our state marine mammal, is certainly not in the best interests of your constituents nor would it in any way aid in the recovery of the Indian River Lagoon,” Rose wrote. “The facts are clear that the seagrass demise is a direct result of government actions and inactions that have knowingly allowed deadly amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus to pollute the lagoon waters for decades.”

“This practice, initiated decades ago, has long outlived its questionable value,” said Bob Atkins, president of Citizens for Florida’s Waterways, a boating advocacy group in Brevard. “Today the artificial warm water source is attracting manatees to the slow death of starvation.”

For now, however, manatees appear to be finding grass to eat. But FWC officials and conservationists remain cautious about the impacts that malnourishment could have on the sea cow’s long-term health and reproduction.

 As of last week, there were 87 manatees in rehabilitation (19 identified as UME-related rescues) at 14 critical care or rehabilitation/holding facilities: 71 in Florida, 2 in Georgia, 12 in Ohio, 1 in Texas and 1 in Puerto Rico, FWC said. Of this total, 14 manatees are considered not-releasable, but the rest should be able to be returned to the wild.

Pat Rose of Save the Manatee Club worries about how other federal spending such at the war in Ukraine will shave the budgets of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other federal agencies tasked with protecting species and habitats that sustain them.

In August, Rose’s group, along with the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife filed a required notice of their intent to sue the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. They want the agency to recognize the biological factors threatening manatee habitat  — such as seagrass loss, declining water quality and waning natural warm-water refuges — and expand the pre-existing critical habitat designation the agency outlined in 1976. Both sides are negotiating and thus far have been able to keep the matter out of court.

Feeding manatees is banned by state and federal law. But emergency exemptions allow for authorized FWC and USFWS staff to provide food to manatees impacted by the Unusual Mortality Event. The short-term supplemental feeding trial is being done by experts in ways that prevent negative impacts to manatee behavior and habitat.

People can help manatees by making sure to go slow and looking out below while boating and reporting sightings of injured, sick or dead manatees to the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline. For more ways to help, visit: https://myfwc.com/research/manatee/rescue-mortality-response/ume/.

Jim Waymer is an environment reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Waymer at 321-261-5903 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Or find him on Twitter: @JWayEnviro or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jim.waymer