Florida: Manatees starving to death on east coast as seagrass is wiped out in Indian River Lagoon

Wildlife officials have raised concern over hundreds of manatees dying in the US after their food was wiped out.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has revealed at least 968 of the sea mammals have died in 2021, with more predicted during the last two months of this year.

Melissa Tucker, director of the Division of Habitat and Species Conservation at the commission, added the previous highest total was 830 deaths in 2013.

She explained the high death count over recent months was due to a "starvation issue" as the herbivorous mammals, who are also dubbed "sea cows", were struggling to find seagrass to eat in the Indian River Lagoon.

Ms Tucker told the House state affairs committee: "Our state-wide death count from all sources has been higher than it's ever been reported before.

"This is a starvation issue. There's not enough seagrasses that are available to the manatees."

She added that efforts were now being made to replant seagrass and also clear algae and pollutants by restoring clam and oyster beds to help filter the water.

Ms Tucker said: "This is something that we're going to be trying to manage and improve over the course of years and maybe decades."

However, Republican State Representative Thad Altman, who represents Brevard County, warned that unless the water was cleared up, it will be difficult to regrow the seagrass.

He raised a further concern about manatees now even eating seagrass roots in a bid to survive, which is likely to permanently kill the aquatic plants.

Mr Altman said: "We literally have a catastrophe on our hands."