Each winter, manatees once gathered peacefully in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon—seeking warmth, grazing on swaying seagrass, and raising their young in one of the East Coast’s most important estuaries. But now, this sanctuary has become a graveyard.

Over the past few years, hundreds of manatees have died slow, agonizing deaths—not from boat strikes or cold snaps, but from starvation. Why? Because the seagrass they depend on has all but disappeared. And the cause is no mystery: decades of unchecked pollution have poisoned the Lagoon and much of Florida’s waterways.

Nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from sprawling developments, agricultural lands, and outdated septic systems have fueled massive algae blooms. These blooms block sunlight, kill off seagrass, and devastate marine ecosystems. Once the blooms begin, they suffocate the waters—robbing fish, turtles, dolphins, and manatees of the oxygen and food they need to survive.

State regulators and lawmakers have known about this threat for decades. Yet even now, most polluters face no enforceable limits on the chemicals they release. And in many areas, the water is getting worse, not better.

Enough is enough. We are calling on the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Governor Ron DeSantis, and the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission to immediately take bold and effective action:

• Enforce binding pollution limits on industrial agriculture, sprawling developments, and septic systems
• Fully fund and accelerate seagrass and wetland restoration
• Treat Florida’s waterways as the life-support systems they are—not as dumping grounds

This is not just about manatees. It’s about the future of our coasts, our clean water, our storm protections, and the countless species that depend on Florida’s fragile ecosystems—including us.

Florida cannot wait for another mass die-off to act. If we restore the health of the Indian River Lagoon and crack down on pollution at its source, we can give manatees—and all of us—a fighting chance.

Sign now to demand real protections for Florida’s waterways and wildlife.