Whether it's an immaculate conception of a stingray or an unidentifiable animal, as Jeff Goldblum's character said in Jurassic Park, "life finds a way."
This can hopefully be said for the manatees in Mosquito Lagoon that are under review for the endangered species list by wildlife officials after an unexplainable seagrass revival, as detailed by the Guardian.
The sea cows of this lagoon have been surviving through an emergency hand-feeding program due to an unusual mortality event caused by malnutrition and starvation since the lagoon lost about 90% of its seagrass due to algae blooms and other contamination.
According to the Guardian, 10% of the population died in 2021 — a total of 1,100 manatees. The next year brought another 800 deaths.
After the almost magical upsurge of seagrass, the emergency feeding has been temporarily suspended.
"At least in a portion of the lagoon, we are seeing a rather rapid resurgence of the Halodule variety of seagrass that … does tell us that it's much more resilient than we might have been thinking," said Dennis Hanisak, a professor of marine botany at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and the director of its seagrass nursery, as reported by the Guardian.
With recent years of record deaths, it remains to be seen if this year's drop is an actual start of a recovery or a natural phenomenon, but Hanisak believes there is now hope this could happen again in other vital lagoons.
In the meantime, the Guardian reported that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) is focused on improvements in water quality and aquatic vegetation that experts believe can reverse the recent years of loss.
The Florida website announced that Gov. Ron DeSantis awarded $100 million in state funds for water-quality improvements in the Indian River Lagoon — one of North America's most biologically diverse waterways.
Clean water is always good news for the planet and every living species on it. If you're interested in contributing to a healthier planet from home, there are all kinds of ways, big and small, to get directly involved with environmental and climate issues.
Patrick Rose, a veteran aquatic biologist and executive director of the Save the Manatee Club, told the Guardian that the infusion of funds is welcome, but he also noted that current efforts "are a drop in the bucket literally to what needs to be done."
Hanisak said, per the Guardian: "My generation, we've gone through watching parts of nature fall apart … things we never could imagine when we were early in our careers.
"There's a whole generation of students now getting into the profession, and they don't have to spend their time anymore saying: 'Boy, is the world going bad here?' They're much more into: 'What can we do? How can we turn this around?'"
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