Manatees died in lower numbers in 2014

Sea cows were safer in 2014.

While the numbers have yet to include the year's final week, the 361 manatee deaths tallied so far this year in Florida could make 2014 one of the best years for manatees in a while. Last year, 811 manatees died.

According to data from the state's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, as of Dec. 19:

•361 manatees died in Florida during 2014, a third less than the 5-year average of 552 deaths. In 2013, a record 811 manatees died.

•67 manatees were killed by watercraft in Florida, 19 percent of the overall death toll, compared with a 5-year average of 82. Typically, watercraft account for 20 percent of total manatee deaths.

•86 manatees died in Brevard County, the most in any Florida county, but much less then the 244 deaths in Brevard last year. In 2014, Brevard's manatee deaths broke down as follows: 3 watercraft-related, 31 perinatal (within a year of birth), 5 cold stress, 2 natural, 43 undetermined and 2 unrecovered.

"It's one of those things that it was a better year than last year, but last year was really horrible," Katie Tripp, Save the Manatee Club's director of science and conservation, said of the statewide sea cow deaths.

Last year, red tide killed 170 manatees and was suspected in another 106 manatee deaths.

Brevard's manatee death toll represented 24 percent of the deaths statewide in 2014. But Brevard commonly tops the list, given the county's 72-mile length and how much prime manatee habitat in the Indian River Lagoon falls within its borders.

Only three manatees were killed by watercraft in Brevard, which typically has more than double that number.

Brevard hasn't had that few watercraft related manatee deaths since the mid 1980s, according to state data.

"Certainly, the idea of protecting manatees shouldn't be new to anyone, so I hope it's catching on," Tripp said of the advent of slow-speed manatee zones in Florida.

In 2006, there were a record 22 water-craft related deaths in Brevard.

But for most of the manatee deaths this year in Brevard — 43 — the cause of death remains unknown. That was the case last year, too, with 163 of the 244 manatee deaths reported as "undetermined" causes.

Biologists have yet to figure out what caused a mysterious illness that began in mid 2012, killing more than 130 manatees in the Indian River Lagoon, most of them in Brevard.

The manatee carcasses appeared otherwise healthy but their guts were full of drift algae.

State biologists say back-to-back severe algae blooms that killed the lagoon's seagrass may have caused of the unusual manatee die-off.

In May, the Pacific Legal Foundation, a libertarian law foundation, decided to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for continuing to list the manatee as "endangered," despite the agency's own research that says the species should be reclassified to the less serious status of "threatened."

In July, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would move ahead with a review of the species' status.

Manatee deaths in 2014 (through 12/19)

Brevard

43 undetermined

31 perinatal

5 cold stress

3 watercraft

2 natural

2 unrecovered

Total: 86

Florida

89 undetermined

98 perinatal

21 cold stress

67 watercraft (19 percent)

24 natural

15 unrecovered

36 undetermined, other

Source: Fish and Wildlife Research Institute

Manatee deaths in Florida, by year

2014 — 361

2013 — 811

2012 — 373

2011 — 442

2010 — 715

2009 — 422

5-year average — 552

Manatees killed by watercraft in Brevard and Florida

2014

Brevard: 3

Florida: 67

2013

Brevard: 8

Florida: 71

2012

Brevard: 10

Florida: 81

2011

Brevard: 7

Florida: 86

2010

Brevard: 13

Florida: 78

Source: Fish and Wildlife Research Institute

If you see a sick, injured, dead, or tagged manatee, call FWC's Wildlife Alert Toll-Free Number 1-888-404-FWCC (1-888-404-3922)

Cellular phone customers: *FWC or #FWC

Contact Waymer at 321-242-3663 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com Follow him on Twitter @JWayEnviro.