In an effort to address the starving manatees in the Indian River Lagoon and settle a pending lawsuit over the deaths, United States Fish and Wildlife Service ("USFWS") has struck a deal with various non-government organizations, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, and Save the Manatee Club (collectively "NGOs") to update its critical habitat designation for the Florida manatee. “Critical habitat” is a specified geographic area that contains features necessary for the survival of a federally listed species. The area designated as critical habitat has not been updated since originally promulgated in 1976. The NGOs petitioned for this revision back in 2008, but USFWS has until recently continued to state that updating the geographic areas was “warranted but precluded” based on other funding/work priorities. The NGOs actually filed suit over the delay in February in light of the recent manatee deaths, and on June 1, USFWS and the NGOs entered into a settlement agreement giving USFWS until September 12, 2024 to publish its proposed revision of the critical habitat designation in the Federal Register.

Changes in the areas designated as critical habitat could significantly affect marina/in-water coastal developments. The area designated as critical habitat already encompasses nearly 1M acres. The map linked below shows in bright blue the current areas designated as critical habitat for manatees.

A Clean Water Act 404 “dredge and fill” permit cannot be issued if the activity to be permitted will “result in likelihood of the destruction or adverse modification” of critical habitat. You can expect that it will make permitting more difficult and time-consuming for developments involving boat slips, marinas or other in-water designated areas. The primary focus of the revision of the critical habitat definition appears to focus on the habitat elements that manatees need to survive, such as submerged grasses and warm water; it is unclear whether the habitat areas will be expanded, as they are already fairly expansive.

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