Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
98 manatees killed by boats
Grim total is record for state
A record number of manatees – 98 – were reported killed by boats this year in Florida, wildlife officials say.
It’s the highest number killed by boats since the state began compiling statistics on manatee deaths in 1974. It includes four manatees found dead in Broward County; four in Palm Beach County and three in Miami-Dade County.
The toll surpasses the 97 deaths from boats that set a record in 2009. Two of Broward’s four manatees that were killed were found last week in Port Everglades.
“It is concerning,” said Pat Quinn, Broward County’s manatee coordinator and senior natural resources specialist. “You spend all this time and effort trying to bring a population back from the edge of extinction and then you break a record for manmade deaths.”
Last year, 86 manatees were killed in boat crashes; 69 died in 2014.
State counts show the number of manatees has increased dramatically. In 1991, the official count found 1,267 mammals, compared with the 6,250 officially counted this year.
But James “Buddy” Powell, executive director of Sea to Shore Alliance, a scientific research nonprofit, said the increase in boat-caused deaths is too sharp over previous years to be explained solely by the increasing number of manatees.
“There are more manatees and you would expect more to be killed,” he said. “But you would expect to see the trend going up gradually if that was the only reason.”