A coalition of enviro groups has filed suit against the U.S. government to force protection of the endangered manatee, a marine mammal that spends much of the year in Florida’s warm coastal waters. The enviros say that U.S. and Florida officials have failed to enforce restrictions on boating, coastal development, and habitat destruction, thereby leading to the unnecessary deaths of scores of manatees. In other news of charismatic marine megafauna, great white sharks seem to be making a comeback in the seas off South Africa, though some scientists say it may be too late to restore a healthy population of the animals. During the 1970s and 1980s, professional hunters went after sharks off the coasts of California, western Australia, and South Africa, leading to a severe drops in the numbers of breeding adult females and smaller sharks. Great white sharks are now protected in most parts of the world, but poachers still go after the animals for their jaws and big dorsal fins, which are prized as delicacies in China.
