BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Florida’s manatees are already listed as a threatened species, and now a new study published in Conservation Biology says they are among the marine mammals most at risk from plastic pollution.
“So plastic pollution is a huge issue among many coastal communities, even right here in the Indian River Lagoon,” said Brooke Blosser, the Science Communications and Outreach Coordinator with the Marine Resources Council.
Blosser and her team recently removed 165 pounds of trash from the lagoon in a single cleanup effort. She says manatees are especially vulnerable because of how they feed along the bottom, often mistaking debris for seagrass.
“The way that manatees are feeding on the bottom of the lagoon, looking for seagrass, they can suck up anything that might not be seagrass by accident,” she said.
The study, co-authored by Dr. Erin Murphy of the Ocean Conservancy, ranked marine mammals based on their vulnerability to plastic exposure, identifying multiple species in Florida waters among the highest risk groups.
“There were six species in this high group and an additional four in the medium-high group that are found in Florida waters or in the Gulf,” Murphy said. “Florida is a place that has a lot of marine mammals in that region, so there are opportunities to think about what we can do at a broader scale to help protect these marine mammals as a state.”
Blosser says the findings are critical for directing conservation efforts.
“These studies are really important for identifying where the help needs to be sent,” she said.
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