Manatees and dugongs are slow-moving marine herbivores facing threats from boat propeller strikes, entanglement, and loss of seagrass habitat. Their welfare is closely tied to coastal ecosystem health.
Manatees struck by boat propellers sustain deep lacerations and internal injuries that veterinary teams can treat but that cause prolonged pain before recovery. Scarred manatees carrying permanent propeller wound patterns are frequently re-struck in the same areas. The 2021 starvation event — driven by seagrass loss from nutrient pollution — affected hundreds of manatees simultaneously, causing prolonged starvation deaths and requiring emergency supplementary feeding. Cold stress events occur when manatees fail to reach warm water refugia in winter, causing immune suppression and fatal infections. Each welfare harm reflects a specific human impact (boat speed, pollution, coastal development) with achievable mitigation.