Three conservation groups say they will sue the federal government for failing to expand protections for Florida's threatened manatees across nearly 1 million acres.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Save the Manatee Club and Defenders of Wildlife filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue on Nov. 9. The notice targets the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by failing to finalize proposed critical habitat designations for the Florida manatee and the Antillean manatee.

The statewide habitat expansion, if finalized, would be the first update to the Florida manatee's critical habitat designation since 1976, according to the notice.

What the feds missed

The USFWS published a proposed habitat designation on Sept. 24, 2024. Under Section 4 of the ESA, the agency had one year to finalize it. That deadline passed on Sept. 24, 2025, according to the notice. Two years after the proposal, the agency still has not acted.

The proposal would add nearly 1 million new acres of critical habitat in Florida and almost 80,000 acres in Puerto Rico, WUSF reported. The 1976 designation predates the 1978 ESA amendments that established modern critical habitat standards, the notice states.

Ragan Whitlock, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the USFWS is one year past the date it said it would increase those protections, according to WUSF. Whitlock noted that habitat loss and pollution have led to six major manatee die-offs in the last 20 years.

The toll on manatees

More than 3,600 manatees have died in Florida since 2021, including 632 in 2025, according to WUSF. Among the deaths since 2021, 1,101 manatees starved in the Indian River Lagoon after pollution killed the seagrasses they depend on.

Elizabeth Neville, director of environmental law and policy at Save the Manatee Club, said the greatest long-term threats to manatees are loss and degradation of habitat, especially warm-water refuge and seagrass, according to WUSF.

The notice states that the groups first petitioned the USFWS in 2008 to revise the Florida manatee's critical habitat. The agency found revisions were warranted but did not act. The groups sued in February 2022, and the USFWS committed to producing a proposed revision by September 2024.

Pinellas County context

Manatee habitat is a live issue across Pinellas County. The Clearwater City Council gave initial approval Aug. 20 to a year-round slow-speed zone in Stevenson Creek, a 3.2-mile tidal estuary where a citizen science survey directed by Save the Manatee Club counted more than 200 manatees over eight months, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Volunteers have counted as many as 17 manatees in the creek at once.

The Clearwater Marine Aquarium's Manatee Rehabilitation Center also reopened to the public and is caring for two rescued juvenile manatees, WFLA reported.

What happens next

If the USFWS does not act within 60 days of the Nov. 9 notice, the groups said they intend to file suit in federal court. No response from the Department of the Interior or the USFWS appeared in public reporting as of Nov. 10.