Manatees are no longer endangered, but we still have more work to do

Manatees are no longer endangered, but we still have work to do | Southern Perspective

Show Caption Hide Caption Record sightings of manatees, Florida’s gentle giant Florida manatees are massive slow-moving marine mammals that populate coastal waters and delight Sunshine State visitors. From pristine natural springs to warm power plant waters, here's where to spot these gentle giants.

Christopher Columbus wrote about seeing three mermaids near the Dominican Republic, where he was sailing in 1493. I've seen it surmised in more than one source, a prominent one being the History Channel's website, that he actually mistook manatees for mermaids.

Either Columbus had horrible eyesight or he simply had women on his brain. I'm going with the second, because there's no way he thought he saw women, even ugly or fishy ones. He may have been showing some Old World humor when he wrote they weren't "half as beautiful as they are painted."

Yes, manatees are adorable in an aquatic teddy bear way, but let's face it. They look like blobs of discolored and under-cooked dough bob, bob, bobbing along in Florida spring waters and rivers. You can't tell me I'm wrong, because you know I'm not. It doesn't mean however that I don't value them. Swimming with manatees is even on my bucket list.

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Manatees are known to be very sweet and gentle giants. They have no natural predators, but being herbivores, they're also predators to none. This brings out the "awwww" factor and makes us want to lavish them with affection. Manatees are also curious beasts, so some human-manatee bonding might even happen.

But where to find them? I'm pleased to report it shouldn't be hard. A survey in early 2019 estimated at least 5,700 living in Florida waters. That's quite a happy jump from the paltry 1,267 estimated in 1991, when the first aerial surveys were taken.

Manatees were classified as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act in 1967. Then, in 2017, their status changed as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service downgraded them to "threatened." It's an improvement but not much of one.

Endangered animals are those which are likely to go extinct now if immediate measures aren't taken. Threatened simply means they're likely to go extinct at some point in the future. The bottom line is that we've given manatees a little wiggle room.

We shouldn't be too proud of ourselves though, because we're the ones who put them in that predicament. However, any progress on their survival is encouraging.

Our next goal for them is "imperiled" or "at risk." Neither one of these is an actual status under the ESA, but they're terms often used to describe animals who are in decline. States may have their own systems under which they work.

So, yay! We don't hear good news often lately when it comes to conservation, but there's a lot of good work happening out there by people who care. Let's care even more. The manatees await.

Linda Barry is a Southern gal and a columnist for the News Journal.