RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — A polar vortex ice and snow has hit much of the US in Florida, dropping coastal temperatures and sending the Sunshine State’s manatee population, which was recovering from a mass starvation several years ago, in search of warmer waters.
In addition to natural inland springs, warm water discharges from a dozen or so power plants around Florida are a popular destination for tame aquatic mammals. Manatees have been attracted to the warm water discharges for decades, following a watery journey where mother manatees have taught their calves to manatees. Public viewing areas are located near power plants Riviera Beach, Fort Myers and Apolo Beach.
Dozens of manatees, which can grow up to 10 feet (3 meters) long and weigh 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms), have converged on Florida Power in the past week. & Light Company’s Riviera Beach plant, where the company opened Manatee Lake attraction in 2016. The two-story, 16,000-square-foot complex is free and open to the public. They are making one for families ManateeFest on February 1
“Manatees are a unique species that we have in our waters in Florida because they are a sentinel species, which means they are an indicator of water problems or environmental problems that we may have,” Manatee. Lagoon education director Rachel Shanker said. “They are the first animals that begin to respond to changes in the environment. And since they are very charismatic, people take this very seriously.”
The facility is open year-round, but the best time to see the animals is from November 15 to March 31, when water temperatures in Florida can drop below 68 degrees, which is deadly for manatees. While boat collisions are the primary human-caused threat to manatees, cold stress is the most common natural threat.
“So in the process of generating power, that plant produces clean, warm water, and when that warm water gets cold, it attracts manatees,” Shanker said.
Ocean water is drawn from the bay and used to cool the plant, but no chemicals or other substances are added to the water, Shanker said. The warm water that flows from the plant is the same ocean water, warmer and completely safe for wildlife.
The number of manatees near the plant can fluctuate, but Shanker said Friday the most they’ve counted this year is about 85.
“Manatees come to Manatee Lagoon for that warm water, but we don’t have a large seagrass population here on our property,” Shanker said. “And so they’ll come here to Manatee Lagoon to warm up, then when they start to get hungry, they’ll go find those seagrass beds, and they’ll feed until they’re full, and they’ll cool off, and they’ll come back to our warm waters to warm up.”
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 565 manatee deaths were recorded in 2024, similar to the 555 deaths recorded a year earlier. Those numbers have dropped significantly since 2021, when officials recorded them 1,100 manatee deathsmostly caused by famine. Pollution from farms, cities, and other sources has decimated the seagrasses that animals depend on.
“The center of these problems was in the Indian River Lagoon, where they’ve had these problems over the years with all these algal blooms,” FWC manatee veterinarian Martine de Wit said. “And that affected the water clarity and quality, and the seagrasses died in that area.”
Indian River Lagoon is located on the Atlantic coast in central Florida. State waters are home to more than 8,000 manatees and at least a third live or migrate through the Indian River Lagoon.
State wildlife officials tried to alleviate the casualties by temporarily feeding the manatees lettuce. After two particularly deadly winters, the area’s seagrasses have begun to recover, and manatee deaths have declined.
“The seagrass is resilient, and it came back on its own, and the manatees found it,” de Wit said.
Although overall deaths have decreased over the past two years, records show an increase in calf deaths this past year. The seagrass famine left many manatees so malnourished that they were physically unable to reproduce for several years, de Wit said. When the food returned, the previously hungry animals began to multiply at the same time.
“When you have higher pregnancy rates, when you have more manatees being born, you always have a ratio that doesn’t make it,” de Wit said. “I think that’s just a measure of the reproduction that’s come back after those lean years since 2020.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday rejected efforts by several Florida environmental groups to put manatees back on the endangered species list. In 2017 it was downgraded from endangered to threatened and will remain in that classification.
Florida’s manatee population is recovering, but officials and residents must be vigilant to protect the threatened species, de Wit said.
“We always look to the future, and there are huge threats to manatees across the state,” de Wit said. “It looks better now, but you can’t sit back and watch it happen because we know it needs management and conservation efforts to protect them.”
