A: To support manatee recovery and protection, the Service is proposing additional critical habitat for the Florida manatee and establishing new critical habitat for the Antillean manatee in Puerto Rico—both subspecies of the West Indian manatee. Critical habitat designations help ensure federal agencies and partners are aware of and can help meet the habitat needs of both manatees.

A: The Service has the authority to identify critical habitat for endangered or threatened species. Critical habitat is identified based on the physical or biological features an animal or plant needs to survive and reproduce by reviewing the best scientific information concerning a species’ present and historical ranges, habitat, and biology. The designation of critical habitat helps ensure federal agencies and the public are aware of the habitat needs of the Florida and Antillean manatee and that proper section 7 consultation is conducted by federal agencies as required by the Endangered Species Act. The designation will have no impact on private landowners taking actions on their land that do not require federal funding or permits. When an area is designated as a critical habitat for a listed species, federal agencies are required to ensure that any action they fund, authorize, or carry out is not likely to adversely modify or destroy the critical habitat. This is carried out through consultation with the Service under Section 7 Section 7
Section 7 Consultation The Endangered Species Act (ESA) directs all Federal agencies to work to conserve endangered and threatened species and to use their authorities to further the purposes of the Act. Section 7 of the Act, called "Interagency Cooperation," is the mechanism by which Federal agencies ensure the actions they take, including those they fund or authorize, do not jeopardize the existence of any listed species.

Learn more about Section 7 of the ESA. This only affects projects that require a federal permit, or other actions funded or conducted by a federal agency. The designation of critical habitat does not affect land ownership or establish a refuge, wilderness, reserve, preserve, or other conservation area conservation area
A conservation area or wildlife management area is a type of national wildlife refuge that consists primarily or entirely of conservation easements on private lands. These conservation easements support private landowner efforts to protect important habitat for fish and wildlife. There are 15 conservation areas and nine wildlife management areas in the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Learn more about conservation area . A critical habitat designation also does not allow the government or public to access private lands, nor does it require the implementation of restoration, recovery, or enhancement measures by non-federal landowners.

A: The basic habitat needs of both manatees include forage, fresh water, shelter, travel corridors and warm water. However, Florida and Antillean manatee inhabit different ranges and experience different habitat conditions as well as threats. The most significant habitat features for Florida manatee conservation are warm water and winter forage availability, specifically the proximity of forage material to warm-water sites. The key habitat features necessary for the Antillean manatee conservation in Puerto Rico are seagrass, shelter (shallow bays and coves), and freshwater, also within proximity of each other.

A: Threats affecting both the Florida and Antillean manatee include habitat loss (including seagrass loss) and modification from coastal development, overutilization from recreational disturbance by humans, disease and predation, pollution and harmful algal blooms, collisions from boating, entrapment in water control structures, loss of warm-water refugia, poaching, entanglement in fishing gear and marine debris, low genetic diversity, and climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.

Learn more about climate change .

A: Florida manatees are found along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, as well as in northern portions of the Caribbean, from the Bahamas to Turks and Caicos. Antillean manatees occur along northern portions of the Caribbean, including Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, rarely in the Virgin Islands; in Central America from Mexico’s southeast Caribbean coast to the Caribbean coast of Panama; Trinidad and Tobago; and south to Brazil’s Atlantic coastline. (See map below.)

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A: The Service is proposing 25 units of critical habitat for the Florida and Antillean manatee, totaling approximately 1,982,312 acres. All units are occupied, and the Service is not proposing any unoccupied units for either subspecies. All units contain one or more of the physical or biological features essential to their conservation. This rule proposes removing 259,842 acres from the current 965,394 acres of Florida manatee critical habitat that was designated in 1977. The areas proposed for removal either do not meet the definition of critical habitat or qualify for an exemption under Section 4(a)(3)(B)(i) of the Endangered Species Act. The rule also proposes the addition of 1,198,639 acres in Florida that meet the definition of critical habitat for the Florida manatee. With the proposed revisions and additions, the revised proposed critical habitat acreage for the Florida manatee is 1,904,191 acres. Approximately 705,552 acres overlap with the current critical habitat designation and approximately 1,140,080 acres overlap with critical habitat for the American crocodile, loggerhead sea turtle, Gulf sturgeon, smalltooth sawfish, elkhorn coral, staghorn coral, Everglades snail kite, piping plover, and Suwannee moccasinshell. Land ownership within the proposed revised critical habitat for the Florida manatee consists of federal (34%), state (57%), county/local (7%), and private (2%) lands.

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For the Antillean manatee, the Service is proposing 78,121 acres of critical habitat in Puerto Rico. Approximately 74,350 acres of the proposed critical habitat for the Antillean manatee overlap with critical habitat for the elkhorn and staghorn corals. 

Land ownership within the proposed critical habitat for the Antillean manatee consists of 100% commonwealth land.

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A: Critical habitat cannot be designated within foreign countries or in other areas outside of U.S. jurisdiction.

A: The Service is accepting comments received or postmarked on or before Monday, November 25. Comments submitted electronically using the Federal eRulemaking Portal must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on the closing date. 

To comment electronically, go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. In the Search box, enter FWS-R4-ES-2024-0073, which is the docket number for this rulemaking. By hard copy, submit by U.S. mail to: Public Comments Processing, Attn: FWS-R4-ES-2024-0073, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041–3803.

Supporting materials are available at https://www.regulations.gov at Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2024-0073.

Requests for public hearings must be received in writing by Nov. 8 at the following address: Nikki Colangelo, Acting Classification and Recovery Division Manager, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida Ecological Services Field Office, 777 37th Street, Suite D-101, Vero Beach, Florida 32960; telephone 772–226–8138.

A: Yes. All comments and information are reviewed and given appropriate consideration as Service staff work through the final decision-making processes. Stakeholders and the general public play an important role in helping to ensure final actions are based on the best scientific and commercial information available. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nikki Colangelo, Acting Classification and Recovery Division Manager, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida Ecological Services Field Office, 777 37th Street, Suite D-101, Vero Beach, Florida 32960; telephone 772–226–8138.

A: Several conservation organizations are working to help protect and save manatees. Here are some things you can do to help protect and save manatees: 

• Look for manatees before cranking the boat motor. 
• Use caution when navigating in shallow water. Manatees have greater difficulty diving away from boats in these areas. 
• Heed “slow speed,” “no wake” and manatee warning signs, especially around docks. 
• Wear polarized sunglasses to reduce glare, making it easier to spot manatees below the surface. 
• Watch for large swirls in the water, called footprints, that may be caused by manatees diving away from the boat.
• Never feed manatees or give them fresh water. This could teach the animals to approach humans and dangerous areas, like docks, putting them at greater risk of a boat strike. It is also illegal to feed and water manatees. 
• Never pursue, harass, or play with manatees. These actions are also illegal. 
• Report injured, orphaned, entangled, distressed, or dead manatees to your state’s wildlife agency.