Manatees return after 500 million pounds of muck vacuumed from Florida’s Crystal River

Video: Manatees are returning to Florida’s Crystal River after over a decade of restoration to remove rotting algae from the riverbed. Divers have sucked out half a million pounds of lyngbya algae at a cost of $10 million. They also replanted eelgrass, an essential food for manatee.

In 2012, concerned residents formed Save Crystal River and lobbied the Florida Legislature to allocate restoration funding. Six thousand schoolchildren wrote letters professing their love of Florida manatee.

The work also uncovered over 800 spring vents that deliver that perfect warm water that attracts Florida manatees away from the cold winter ocean. The planted eelgrass is spreading and helping to maintain water clarity by stabilizing the riverbed and filtering runoff.

“Eelgrass forms the base of a highly productive marine food web,” according to NOAA. “The unique habitat also produces food and oxygen, improves water quality by filtering polluted runoff, absorbs excess nutrients, stores greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, and protects the shoreline from erosion. “

Manatee grew endangered by the 1960s due to overhunting, habitat loss, and boat strikes. Numbers have rebounded from just a few hundred to 12,000 today as communities have enacted boat speed limits and other protective measures.

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