Miami woman says video shows manatee swimming in fuel spill in Little River – NBC 6 South Florida

A South Florida woman is voicing concerns after she says fuel spills in a popular waterway are impacting a threatened species.

Cellphone video taken by Yanina Barrington shows a manatee swimming in what appears to be a gasoline spill in Miami’s Little River, which runs to Biscayne Bay.

Barrington, who lives next to the river, recorded the video from her backyard.

She said the fuel spills have been ongoing for two years, but the source is unknown.

“We have oil spills every other month to every month happening, they’re very short, usually two, three hours,” Barrington said. “The oil is not great so it dissipates as soon as it happens, you know, within two or three hours. By the time you send a report, the Coast Guard shows up, it’s very hard for them to pinpoint what the source is.”

Manatees are considered a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act. There are between 7,000 and 8,000 manatees in Florida, according to state estimates.

Oil spills can be reported to the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802.