Florida breaks annual manatee death record in first six months

Manatees crowd together near the warm-water outflows from Florida Power & Light’s plant in Riviera Beach, Florida (Greg Lovett/The Palm Beach Post/AP)

More manatees have died already this year than in any other year in Florida’s recorded history, primarily from starvation due to the loss of seagrass beds, officials said.

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission reported that 841 manatee deaths were recorded between January 1 and July 2, breaking the previous record of 830 that died in 2013 because of an outbreak of toxic red tide.