West Indian manatee has been included on the U.S. Endangered Species List since the 1970s. In October 2007, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessed the West Indian manatee as vulnerable, and both the Florida and Antillean subspecies as endangered. The full species and both subspecies qualified for their respective classifications due to a combination of a low number of mature individuals, and a significant projected decline in total population numbers over the next two generations (about 20 years per generation in manatees). Similarly, NatureServe considers both the Florida subspecies and the species as a whole as "Imperiled". The Florida and Antillean subspecies face different threats, though some overlap. The largest causes of Florida manatee deaths can be attributed to collisions with watercraft, the loss of warm-water habitat, high perinatal mortality, entanglements and ingestion of debris, pollution, habitat loss, and harmful algae blooms (HABs), such as red tide. Antillean manatees face severe habitat fragmentation, as well as continued pressure from illegal hunting. In some countries, like Belize, collisions with watercraft are on the rise as tourism grows. The 2017 decision to reclassify the West Indian manatee from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act cited increases in the populations of both subspecies. The decision was not without controversy, however: according to Save the Manatee Club, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to adequately consider data from 2010 to 2016, during which time manatees suffered from unprecedented mortality events linked to habitat pollution, dependence on artificial warm water sources, and record deaths from watercraft strikes. The official notice of the reclassification made clear that, even with the downlisting, all federal protections for the West Indian manatee under the Endangered Species Act would remain in place. The West Indian manatee is also protected by the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act of 1978 and the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. T. m. latirostris (Florida manatee) A 1997 population viability analysis of the Florida manatee projected a 44% chance of extinction within the next 1,000 years without improvements in habitat conditions and new protective regulations. Since then, prospects for the subspecies have improved. In 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey collaborated with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Service to re-evaluate the status of the Florida manatee under the Core Biological Model, which is used to estimate population viability. This assessment analyzed total population on the east and west coasts of