“According to recent state statistics posted by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the first six weeks of 2021 have seen extremely high mortality rates of Florida’s manatees.
Between January 1 and February 12, 2021, 317 manatees have died, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) listings – more than half of the five-year annual average for manatee mortality, which was 578.”