The Caribbean manatee is found in the coastal waters and rivers of the Caribbean and Atlantic regions of the Americas, in both tropical and subtropical latitudes. Exact population figures aren't known, but an intensive statewide survey conducted in Florida in January of 1992 produced a minimum estimate of 1,856. Manatees prefer low-moving rivers, river mouths, bays, lagoons, shallow coastal waters, and coves to open marine waters. They have adapted to marine, estuarine, and fresh water habitats. They sometimes cover great distances migrating between winter and summer grounds, stopping along they way where feeding conditions and shelter are favorable.
Human activities are now the greatest threat to the manatee.
Even in areas where they are not deliberately hunted, many manatees drown every year from being trapped in fishing nets, crushed by flood gates and canal locks, and injured by discarded fishing lines, hooks, other trash in the water. Despite the protective measures taken to regulate boating activities, collision with boats is still the major cause of man-related manatee mortality in Florida. A large proportion of the Florida manatee population bears propeller scars, which are used by biologists to identify individual manatees. Research and public education have been initiated in countries throughout the manatee's range.