SATELLITE BEACH, Fla. — People and pets aren’t the only creatures huddling for warmth this cold holiday weekend. On Friday, manatees from across the state of Florida started seeking shelter in warm water spots, like DeSoto Park in Satellite Beach.

The drop in temperatures is just the latest challenge for creatures that have had a rough go of it in recent years due to a drop off in their primary source of food: sea grass. 

Andy Garrett, the manatee rescue coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said on Monday that the weekend will be challenging for manatees that don’t make it to warmer waters.

“There are some potential issues," he said during a Dec. 21 virtual press conference. "We anticipate there could be an uptick in live and dead strandings and we’re prepared for that."

As of that briefing, FWC data show that 104 manatees were rescued statewide in 2022, 70 of which came from along the Atlantic coast of the state. Of the 104 manatees, 76 are being treated in critical care or rehabilitation facilities, and 15 of those were deemed “non-releasable.”

Among the organizations working to protect and preserve the manatees is Florida-based nonprofit Save the Manatee Club. Executive director Patrick Rose said the loss of nearly 77,000 acres of sea grass over the past decade is causing longterm malnourishment and prompted the die-off of more than 1,100 manatees in 2021.

He noted that number dropped down to about 780 in 2022, but said that now is far from the time to celebrate.

“We’re seeing very, very bleak production in terms of new calves being born and reared successfully," Rose said. "And that’s a really strong indication that these manatees are still undernourished and having problems with being able to find enough food."

The lack of food caused the state to put a supplemental feeding program into place for a second year in a row. Between Dec. 16 and 21, FWC officials said they’d given more than 1,000 pounds of romaine lettuce to manatees at the Temporary Field Response Station and Unified Command (UC) Center. 

The facility is located at Florida Power & Light’s Cape Canaveral Clean Energy Center in Brevard County.

During a Dec. 14 press conference, John Wallace, the UC Incident Commander for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said based off last year’s need and the anticipated need this year, they’ve beefed up their team.

He said they’re using three branches in the north, central and southeast and are adding new resources, like a full-time operations section chief, logistics section chief and a finance section chief.

“We’re getting our resources ready, we’re getting our horsepower ready to come in and respond in the way that’s required,” Wallace said. “If we have a significant event this year, which we are hoping we won’t have, we’ll be ready for that. And if we have a reduced event this year, we’ll be ready to scale down to meet the needs of a reduced event.”

Rose said the steps the state is taking with the supplemental feeding program are good, but are a temporary fix while the greater problem, the ailing health of the Indian River Lagoon, still needs long-term solutions. 

Save the Manatee Club and others remain in litigation with the Environmental Protection Agency to force them to be more rigorous with the implementation of the Clean Water Act. Earlier this year, they dropped their suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and are hoping it and state leaders can convince the EPA to do more.

“My analogy is we went so far in so many years mortgaging our environmental future from an aquatic ecosystem standpoint, and now Mother Nature’s foreclosing on us,” Rose said. “So, we can turn around, but we’ve got to treat this like a foreclosure or bankruptcy and work together to find our way out, how to manage our way out of it.”

He said it’s too early to know if the supplemental feeding program will be needed in future years, but they will continue to gauge the manatees’ health over the winter and into the spring.

Rose and FWC officials also encourage people to help them aid manatees in distress by calling the rescue hotline at 888-404-3922 when an ailing manatee is spotted.