The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Tuesday that it is moving forward with a status review of manatees. During the review, the federal agency will decide whether manatees should be removed from endangered list and added to threatened list or not.

In 2012, Pacific Legal Foundation, on behalf of Save Crystal River Inc, has submitted a petition asking for reclassification. The federal agency is carrying out detailed review and analysis due to this petition.

Manatees are part of the list since 1967, when the federal government's endangered species list was published for the first time. But now, there are chances that this slow-moving sea mammal may find itself to be unprotected by the agency or reclassified to `threatened'.

Decision for the same would not come for at least 12 another year. The wildlife officials are expected to take 12 months review the recovery and population numbers of West Indian Manatee and its two subspecies, the Florida manatee and Antillean manatee.

Florida wildlife officials shared that manatee numbers are stable. But they do not have exact account of the mammals. FWS spokesman Chuck Underwood said reclassification would not weaken current protections. "Reclassifying from endangered to threatened really focuses more on where they stand towards recovery", said Underwood.

The local group Save Crystal River said the petition was important as environmental policy needs to be crystal clear. By changing the status of endangered to threatened would not bring a change in the protections provided to the species.

But it will make a lot of difference if the status is not change when the science says it should be. By not changing the status, the federal agency would undermine the credibility of environmental oversight. The agency would not reach at a decision before conducting a 90-day public consultation period.