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Copyright 1998 Sun-Sentinel Company

Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)

January 6, 1998, Tuesday, Palm Beach EDITION

SECTION: LOCAL, Pg. 1B, DIGEST

LENGTH: 123 words

HEADLINE: MANATEE DEATH TOLL: 240

BYLINE: STAFF REPORTS

BODY:

As many as 240 manatees died in Florida in 1997 _ an above-average toll for the endangered marine mammals, environmental regulators said Monday.

Of those fatalities, 54 died from collisions with watercraft and 16 from exposure to red tide, regulators said.

No other details on manatee mortalities were released on Monday by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Over the past five years, an average 228 manatees a year have died, the DEP said.

In 1996, manatees had their most gruesome year, when a record-breaking 415 seacows perished in Florida. Nearly 150 of those deaths were linked to red tide, a natural but deadly marine micro-organism. Some 2,200 manatees were counted in state waters last year.