As the state’s residents step up to save the sea cows, advocacy organizations believe the solution is less about lettuce—and more about leaders.
, overseen by federal agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of the Interior, plus Florida’s state government, began in 2000. Its associated projects aim to restore the flow of water from the central Lake Okeechobee to South Florida after a century of diversion that parched the wetland. But that project will run through, and environmental advocates believe that more can be done in the meantime at the government level.
In 2013, the US Environmental Protection Agency approved the State of Florida’s annual limits—which are still in place today—on nitrogen and phosphorus in the Indian River Lagoon. “They stated that it would not adversely modify the Indian River Lagoon and affect any listed species,” says Ragan Whitlock, a staff attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “That clearly has turned out not to be the case.
In a bid to get the EPA to lower those limits, and to cut pollution, in August 2021, the US Fish and Wildlife Service sent a letter to the agency recommending that it reinitiate its process for approving this “numeric nutrient criteria,” or NNC. The EPA declined, saying that the limits were not the problem.
In May 2022, the nonprofits Save the Manatee Club, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Center for Biological Diversity, arguing that the EPA’s inaction is neglecting the environment during a period of “catastrophic mortality” for manatees. “If they choose to be a productive player in this space, they can help,” says Whitlock.
An EPA representative declined an interview but provided WIRED a statement via email. “The EPA recognizes that manatees are a keystone species for the coastal ecosystem, and their health and behavior are alerting us to water quality changes,” the spokesperson wrote. “The EPA is concerned about this environmental crisis and is working to find solutions with our partner agencies that will improve water quality, which contributes to the long-term survival of the manatee population.
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