Pointing to increased numbers of manatees and improved habitat, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday it wants to change the status of the sea cows from endangered to threatened.
The agency said in a news release that Florida has an estimated 6,300 manatees, up from 1,267 when aerial surveys began in 1991.
Under the federal Endangered Species Act, endangered animals are considered in danger of extinction, while threatened animals are likely to become endangered in the “foreseeable future,” the news release said.
The agency said manatee-protection measures would remain in place.
But U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., sent a letter Thursday to the Fish and Wildlife Service asking it to withdraw the proposed status change, calling the move “misguided and premature” and saying manatees face such threats as collisions with boats, habitat loss and red tide.