Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Critical Habitat Designations for Florida Manatee and Antillean Manatee

Issuing agencies

Abstract

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to revise the critical habitat designation for the Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) and to designate critical habitat for the Antillean manatee (T. m. manatus), under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). In 1976, we designated critical habitat of approximately 965,394 acres (ac) (390,681 hectares (ha)) in Florida for the Florida manatee based on where large concentrations of manatees were known to occur at the time, but no critical habitat was ever designated for the Antillean manatee subspecies. After a review of the best scientific data available, we propose to revise the existing designated critical habitat for the Florida manatee and designate critical habitat for the Antillean manatee based on the physical or biological features essential to the conservation of each subspecies. The total proposed designation for Florida manatee is 1,904,191 ac (770,599 ha) and 78,121 ac (31,614 ha) for the Antillean manatee subspecies. We also announce the availability of an economic analysis of the proposed revised designation of critical habitat for the Florida manatee and proposed designation for the Antillean manatee.