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The Save the Manatee Club praised the staff-level agreement between state and federal wildlife authorities on Monday night to test and urgently feed the Central Florida manatees at risk of starvation as winter approaches.

The organization’s executive director, Patrick Ross, said that the agreement was reached a week ago based on a wave of deaths of some manatees in the Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County, Central Florida last winter, and that countless details of the agreement have yet to be determined.

The lagoon system is suffering from pollution caused by the collapse of the ecosystem, and almost all the seagrass beds on which the manatees feed have disappeared.

Rose said he is worried that the manatees in the area will be malnourished and may become hungry due to the arrival of the winter cold.

Officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission could not be reached for comment.