#1 THREAT: HUMAN BOAT COLLISIONS

The biggest threat to manatees involve boat collisions. Manatees swim in shallow waters at a slow pace and their main source of food is found at shallow waters. This also happens to be where there is a lot of boat activity. As a result, they are often struck by human vessels. In the first six months of 2019, 89 manatees were killed by boat collisions. While not every manatee struck by a boat dies, 97% of manatees have injuries related to boating incidents. This human-related threat is the leading cause of manatee deaths.