ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., (Reuters) - Manatees are dying at a record rate in Florida, raising concerns among wildlife officials that the state's small population of the marine mammals might not be able to survive.

A spokesman for the Florida Marine Research Institute, part of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said on Monday that 100 manatees died in the first three months of this year compared with 80 deaths in the same period last year.

Thirty two manatees were killed by collisions with powerboats, versus 23 during the same period last year.

In January, the institute counted 2,222 manatees along the east and west coasts of Florida, about the same as in 1997.

"There is no question that the manatee population cannot sustain this continued increase in the number of caused deaths," the commission's Kipp Frohlich said in a statement.