Several environmental groups are saying they will sue the federal government to increase protections for Florida's threatened manatees and sea cows in Puerto Rico. They claim the feds have missed a deadline set in 2024 to expand protected areas.
The lawsuit will be filed by three environmental groups: the Center for Biological Diversity, Save the Manatee Club and Defenders of Wildlife.
Center attorney Ragan Whitlock said the threatened sea cows can't recover their numbers without having protected places. And the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has missed its deadline to increase those areas by nearly 1 million acres in Florida alone.
"It's clear the Trump administration is doing everything it can to abdicate its responsibilities under the Endangered Species Act," Whitlock said. "And this lawsuit today shows that the Center for Biological Diversity and its allies will continue to fight for protections, regardless of who is in office. We need those to happen swiftly because that is the best chance that the manatee has at long-term survival."
More than 3,600 manatees have died in Florida since 2021 —including 632 in 2025. That includes 1,101 that starved in the Indian River Lagoon from pollution that killed the seagrasses they depend on.
A proposal in 2024 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would modernize habitat designations, including nearly 1 million new acres of critical habitat in Florida and almost 80,000 acres in Puerto Rico.
Whitlock said the service is one year past the date it said it would increase those protections.
"Right now, the West Indian manatee is listed as threatened throughout all of its range," he said. "The Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to separate that into two separate listed entities: the Florida manatee here in the United States, which it is proposed to keep as threatened, and the Antillean manatee in the Caribbean, which is proposed to be uplisted back to endangered, and the service got that determination half correct."
The lawsuit gives a 60-day notice of intent to sue the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for violating section 4 of the Endangered Species Act by failing to timely finalize proposed critical habitat designations for the Florida manatee and Antillean manatee.
"Section 4 of the ESA requires the Service to finalize a proposal to revise or designate critical habitat within one year of publication," the lawsuit states. "It has now been two years since the Service published its proposal to revise the Florida manatee's critical habitat designation and designate critical habitat for the Antillean manatee."
Elizabeth Neville is director of environmental law and policy at Save the Manatee Club.
"The greatest long-term threats to manatees are loss and degradation of habitat, especially essential habitat features like warm-water refuge and seagrass," Neville said. "Modernizing 50-year-old critical habitat designations is essential to ensuring manatees can recover and thrive for the next 50 years and beyond."
Right now, the West Indian manatee — which is common to Florida — is listed as threatened throughout all of its range. The Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to keep the Florida manatee classified as threatened, and the Antillean manatee in the Caribbean would be uplisted back to endangered.
"The service got that determination half correct," said Whitlock, who noted habitat loss and pollution have led to six major die-offs of the sea cows in the last 20 years.
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