Lawsuit Launched to Compel Critical Habitat for Florida, Antillean Manatees

Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for Biological Diversity today notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that they intend to sue the agency for failing to finalize critical habitat protections for Florida and Antillean manatees.

"All creatures need safe, healthy habitats to find food, shelter and migrate." said Victoria Molyneaux, staff attorney at Defenders of Wildlife. "But for manatees, life-saving habitat protections are long overdue; we're holding Fish and Wildlife Services accountable to ensure this iconic species has the best chance at long-term recovery."

The final designation is overdue by more than a year, despite threats to the species' recovery becoming increasingly dire. Critical habitat designations are necessary to conserve and protect ecosystems relied upon by endangered and threatened species.

The Florida manatee's critical habitat designation has remained unchanged since 1976, despite FWS acknowledging in 2008 that an update was needed. To date, the Antillean manatee has no designated critical habitat. Manatees need natural warm-water habitat and nearby foraging grounds to survive. Both resources, however, are becoming scarcer - primarily driven by rapid development in Florida, a warming climate, water pollution and shifting energy needs.

In the last 20 years, manatees have experienced six unusual mortality events resulting in a significant loss of the population. These events were largely due to a lack of available food and biotoxins, driven by poor water quality and pollution. Manatees are susceptible to the effects of human-caused water pollution, particularly from run-off and sewage. These obstacles make survival in fresh water and marine environments especially challenging.

"Manatees can't recover without safe and protected places to feed, shelter and raise their young, so the Fish and Wildlife Service needs to act," said Ragan Whitlock, a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. "We won't let manatee habitat fall by the wayside even as the Trump administration tries to destroy wildlife protections and abandon its obligations under the Endangered Species Act."

"The greatest long-term threats to manatees are loss and degradation of habitat, especially essential habitat features like warm-water refuge and seagrass," said Elizabeth Neville, director of environmental law and policy at Save the Manatee Club. "Modernizing 50-year-old critical habitat designations is essential to ensuring manatees can recover and thrive for the next 50 years and beyond."

A 2024 proposal from FWS responded to these increased threats by modernizing habitat designations and bringing significant benefit to the species - including nearly 1 million new acres of critical habitat in Florida and almost 80,000 acres of critical habitat in Puerto Rico. Recent regulatory rollbacks by the Trump administration to eliminate habitat protections in the Endangered Species Act make these designations especially urgent. Finalizing these designations will give manatees the best shot at future survival.

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For nearly 80 years, Defenders of Wildlife has worked to protect and restore America's wildlife at risk of extinction, advancing a vision of a future in which wildlife thrives, sustained by broad public support and a resilient network of healthy lands and waters. With a network of more than 2 million supporters, Defenders is an advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard wildlife for generations to come. To learn more, please visit https://defenders.org/newsroom or follow us on Instagram @defendersofwildlife.

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