THE ISSUE:
In 2001, the Coastal Conservation Association of Florida, a fishing group,
petitioned the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) to
re-evaluate the endangered status of the manatee. State scientists then
began a Biological Status Review.
A vote on the status change from "endangered" to “threatened" was
scheduled to take place in January 2003, but due to various concerns
(including problems with the scientific review and the actual listing
criteria), the FWCC Executive Director and staff scientists recommended in
January to postpone the vote on changing the manatee’s status. The
Commissioners wisely agreed with this recommendation from staff and
decided to wait until their meeting in November 2003 to revisit the issue.
Now the Commissioners have inexplicably changed their minds and want to
accelerate the schedule for making a final determination (moving it to the
May meeting), even though their Executive Director continues to recommend
waiting until November, and even though new scientific information is
available that may influence the outcome of the review!
A FORMAL VOTE TO MAKE THIS SCHEDULE CHANGE WILL TAKE PLACE AT A SPECIAL
FWCC COMMISSION MEETING ON APRIL 18TH.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Please immediately email the FWCC Commissioners and Governor Jeb Bush at
the addresses listed below.
- Urge them to stick to their plan of proceeding cautiously toward a final
decision on the status of the manatee.
- Remind them they have nothing to lose by waiting until November and
allowing a thorough scientific review to take place in the interim.
- Let them know you are strongly against the downlisting or delisting of
any species until the state's listing criteria are also thoroughly
reviewed.
- If possible, please attend this special Commission meeting on April 18th
at 1:30 p.m. at FWCC Headquarters - Auditorium, Bryant Building, 620 S.
Meridian Street, Tallahassee, Florida.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!
All FWCC Commissioners can be contacted at the following
email address:
commissioners@fwc.state.fl.us
They are:
Chairman Edwin P. Roberts, D.C.
Vice-Chair Rodney Barreto
Commissioner Richard A. "Dick" Corbett
Commissioner Sandra T. Kaupe
Commissioner H.A. "Herky" Huffman
Commissioner David K. Meehan
Commissioner John D. Rood (please be sure to copy
Commissioner Rood, as he is the Commission's informal
"manatee czar." We need his help.)
Governor Jeb Bush can be contacted at:
jeb@myflorida.com
Thank you,
Helen Spivey, Sierra Club, Manatee Issue Chair hspivey@habitats.org
(news clips have not been kept updated - check
archives)
Protecting manatees carries big pricetag in southwest Florida
Protecting manatees by halting construction of new boat docks, marinas and ramps in southwest Florida could cause the region to lose nearly 1,000 jobs in five years, a federal agency estimated...
11/25/02
State draft report says manatees no longer endangered
- ST. PETERSBURG -- Manatees should no longer be considered an endangered species, as their numbers have increased over the past 30 years, according to a preliminary report issued by the Florida Marine Research Institute last week.--
But the report also warned that greater threats from boats and loss of habitat could halve the manatee population in the next 45 years, which warrants their classification as a threatened species.
10/10/02
Death toll mounts as state
weighs change for manatees--
More West Indian manatees have been killed by boats this year than during any year on record, further separating manatee advocates and boaters' rights groups three months before the state considers changing the listing of the endangered sea cow.
10/8/02
Manatees endangered no more, biologists say
ST. PETERSBURG -- While predicting that half the state's manatee population could disappear in less than 50 years, state biologists recommend that the seagoing mammal no longer be classified as endangered.--
In a report cheered by the state's boating rights advocates and condemned by environmentalists, the staff of the Florida Marine Research Institute says the manatee qualifies only as a threatened species, not endangered.--
"We're of course happy they're seeing it that way," said Jim Kalvin of the boating rights group, Standing Watch.--
But Patti Thompson of the Save the Manatee Club said the recommendation showed how "politics trumps science every time." A record number of manatees have been killed by boats this year: 84 so far, with more than two months to go.
... 10/8/02
Manatees face rough waters around globe
Manatees getting hit by boats in Florida may be grabbing most of the media attention, but the Sunshine State is not the only place in the world where sea cows face threats.
10/1/02
Manatee deaths in 2002 have already set record
- ST. PETERSBURG -- While boaters and environmental activists have been feuding over manatee protection, the animals have been dying at a record pace.
--
With three months left in 2002, the number of manatees killed this year by boats has broken the record of 82 set three years ago, officials at the Florida Marine Research Institute said Friday.
9/28/02
Why We Need Our Sea Cows
Aren't manatees a nuisance? The way they get in the way of our fun, make us slow our boats, make us, of all things, be careful? Oh, sure, they're cute and all, but would it really be so terrible if they just, you know, went extinct? We'd have some fun then, wouldn't we?
9/19/02
Officials restrict boat speeds to protect manatees
KISSIMMEE — State wildlife officials voted Thursday to restrict boating speeds to protect manatees in 10 waterways primarily on the state's west coast. Boaters are now required to slow down on parts of some waterways in Charlotte, Indian River, Sarasota, Manatee, Citrus, Hillsborough and DeSoto counties.
9/13
Norton defends manatee protection effort
The Interior secretary says seven refuges and sanctuaries will be designated next week.
The department's Fish and Wildlife Service will publish an order in the Sept. 16 Federal Register designating three emergency refuges and four sanctuaries in Citrus, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties in response to a federal court order issued in July.--
Sanctuaries are areas where all water-borne activities, including boating, swimming and fishing, are prohibited; refuges are areas where activities are restricted.
9/11
Manatees may provide clues to human cancer
Despite rising disputes over manatee slow-speed zones, sea cows and humans are forging a new partnership. The flabby giants that have been at the center of political fights in the last decade could help scientists find ways to treat cervical cancer and understand the nature of diseases such as AIDS. At the center of the study, recently started by scientists at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce, is a virus found in manatees that is similar to one that causes cervical cancer in humans.
9/9/02
JUDGE WANTS MANATEE ZONES
Manatees, the slow-moving endangered species found only in Florida, made the news several times last week. First off, a federal judge for the second time rebuked the Bush administration for taking up Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's push to delay the implementation of a federal plan that would establish about a dozen more manatee safety zones.
8/4/02
Cut! Manatees keep cameras from rolling
A waiver allowed filming of a chase in their waters. But the sea cows keep making cameos.
8/3/02
Emergency steps sought to
reduce Fla. manatee deaths -
Fresh off a court victory against federal wildlife officials this
week, manatee advocates sought Friday to turn up the pressure on behalf of the endangered species. Attorney Eric Glitzenstein filed a proposed order that would require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider "appropriate emergency steps" to stem boat-related manatee deaths in Florida waters.
8/3/02
Movie
gets break from manatee rules to film boat chase on river
TALLAHASSEE — The makers of "Bad Boys 2" expected Thursday
to begin shooting the action movie on time after getting a special
waiver of manatee protection rules for a high-speed boat chase scene in
waters near Miami. The makers had originally been denied a permit by the
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to shoot the scene on
the Miami River, plied by the lumbering manatees whose biggest enemy is
boats. 8/2/02
Manatees
no threat to $60-million film
After an emergency waiver to race in slow-speed zones is denied, a
Columbia Pictures producer visits Gov. Jeb Bush. The chase is on.
8/1/02
A
judge's justifiable anger
The federal government should not be backpedaling on
manatees. 8/2/02
President
wants Florida manatee settlement scrapped-- WASHINGTON — A
federal judge ruled Wednesday the Bush administration must designate
by Nov. 1 where it will create new areas to protect Florida's
endangered manatees from boaters.- The Justice Department had asked
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to scrap an agreement with
environmentalists last year requiring the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service to create 16 manatee sanctuaries and refuges, with reduced
speed zones.-- Instead, Sullivan ordered the agency to say how it
plans to establish 14 more refuges. The agency had created two but
then delayed on the other 14, in deference to a request from Florida
Gov. Jeb Bush. 8/1/02
Judge:
Manatee zones must be designated by Nov. 1
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Interior Secretary Gale Norton to
show why she shouldn't be held in contempt for violating a 2001
settlement agreement in which the Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to
designate new manatee refuges and sanctuaries throughout peninsular
Florida. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan also ordered the
government to issue final designations of refuges and sanctuaries by
Nov. 1 -- 8/1/02
Real
help for manatees
Not from the state, but from the courts. 8/1/02
Judge
faults Bush administration for bowing to brother over manatees
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration, after missing a court-approved
deadline, has been given until Monday to propose a new timetable for
protecting endangered manatees from boaters off the coast of Florida. A
federal judge ruled this week that delays by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service in creating safe havens for manatees violated a court-approved
settlement last year with environmentalists who sued to have the large,
blubbery sea creatures protected. 7/13/02
Safety
for manatees
Fourteen new manatee-protection zones have been put off for 1 1/2 years.
7/13/02
Judge:
Set up manatee havens
A court finds the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated its settlement
with advocates, and orders a fix. 7/12/02
HOME
ON THE CROWDED RANGE
Like the West Indian manatee, its endangered counterpart, the Key deer
is benefiting from federal protection. Years of conservation efforts
for these endangered species are paying off with growing populations.
7/11/02
Manatee
rules sail through one hearing
The Manatee County meeting was a lovefest compared with the clash over
speed restrictions in the Alafia River.7/10/02
Researchers
build a database of scars to try to save manatees...
Cross-referenced and cataloged by computer, the ever-growing slide
collection forms the Manatee Photo ID database, one of the most
extensive portraits compiled of any marine mammal species.5/6/02
Manatees
and mankind: a delicate mix
Learn how to be a wildlife watcher. I cringed when I saw the headline on
Andy Lindstrom's April 21 article about manatees: "Touch, but don't
hug."-- I am in charge of education for the state's manatee program
and I would like to encourage people to, "Look, but don't
touch."
Contested
manatee bill passes Senate panel
By Jim Ash, Palm Beach Post Capitol Bureau Writer
A Senate panel voted Tuesday to change the way Florida protects its
homely aquatic icon -- the manatee.
Top
Endangered by any other name leaves Florida manatees in peril
By PATRICK M. ROSE
Just this week the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) finished its preliminary review of the currently endangered manatee population's status and found that it meets their definition for "Threatened."
Some fishing and boating groups are rejoicing. They are getting what they wanted -- a declaration by the state of Florida that manatees are no longer endangered. Never mind that manatees are still listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. Never mind that anywhere else in the world manatees would still be considered endangered if these same standards were applied. Never mind that the FWCC review found the Florida manatee population might be reduced by more than 50 percent within the next 45 years. And don't forget that a new record for manatees being killed by boats is being set nearly every week.
What changed, you may ask, to bring about this miraculous recovery? They simply changed the definition of the classification. "What's in a name?" Shakespeare asked. This time, a name could have dire and lasting consequences.
We can no sooner eliminate poverty and save starving children by lowering the definition of poverty than we can recover an endangered species by raising the standards for it to qualify as endangered. Yet this is just what the state of Florida has done. They did it to the federally listed endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, because of pressure from logging and development interests, and they are about to do to the federally listed endangered manatee, because of pressure from boating and marine industry interests.
Faced with a continuation of accelerating boating-related manatee mortality and the prospects of new slow speed zones in order to protect manatees from increasing numbers of boating strikes, a recreational fishing group, the Coastal Conservation Association, petitioned the FWCC last year to reevaluate the endangered status of manatees. Knowing that in 1999, following heavy lobbying from the legislature, the FWCC made it much more difficult for species to be listed as endangered or threatened, the fishing group hoped that by forcing the FWCC to review the status of the manatee population under their new, much stricter criteria, manatees would not meet the new definition for endangered.
You see, although the FWCC had adopted the basic listing criteria used by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for classifying imperiled species, they conspicuously elected to use different titles or names for these classifications. Under the modified language, in order for manatees to remain classified as Endangered, they would now have to meet the IUCN standards for Critically Endangered, which means a species may have to undergo or be at the risk of undergoing an 80 percent decline in its population. Similarly, in order for manatees to even be classified as threatened, they would have to meet the IUCN standards for Endangered:
-- IUCN Critically Endangered = FWCC Endangered;
-- IUCN Endangered = FWCC Threatened.
Under the new criteria, the FWCC has made it almost impossible for any species currently listed as endangered on the state's protected species list to remain so. The federal Marine Mammal Commission (MMC) has stated that even the critically endangered northern right whale, with a population of around 300 individuals, would not continue to be listed as endangered under the state's too stringent criteria. The MMC also stated that the FWCC's criteria "as currently formulated are fundamentally flawed and inappropriate for marine mammals, as well as sea turtles and perhaps certain other species" and strongly recommended the manatee retain its endangered status and that the state revise its criteria.
The findings of the FWCC review should serve as a warning that we must reduce human-related manatee mortality and other negative impacts to manatees and their habitat. Certainly, with record-breaking manatee mortality from watercraft collisions (85 deaths, or 33 percent of all mortalities so far this year), and more and more boats operating in manatee habitat every day, manatees need all the help we can give them.
Save the Manatee Club maintains that the state criteria need to be modified in order to be meaningful for the evaluation of long-lived marine mammals such as the manatee. The FWCC should immediately convene a scientific panel to develop appropriate species- specific listing criteria.
It should be a wake-up call for everyone who loves manatees that their protected status under Florida law presently hinges on a question of semantics. Playing word games doesn't change the reality of the serious and increasing threats manatees are facing for their long-term survival, as clearly described in the FWCC status review. The manatee's status should remain unchanged until they are adequately protected, their habitat is secured, and a healthy, sustainable population is ensured for many generations to come.
Rose is director of government relations for the Save the Manatee Club.
http://www.n-jcenter.com/2002/Oct/10/OPN3.htm ,
posted 10/10/02
top
Manatee safety and moviemaking can go
together
Your Aug. 9 editorial, Bad Boys vs. manatees, suggests that I am
indifferent to manatee safety and that I am personally responsible for
"placing them in harm's way." Nothing could be further from the
truth.
As your editorial itself noted, filming of the movie Bad Boys 2 in
Biscayne Bay and the Miami River was stopped seven times because manatees
were spotted. To me, this demonstrates that the additional lookouts
provided by the production company -- and which Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission officials insisted upon before granting an
emergency waiver -- were effective in protecting the manatees. No manatees
were injured or killed during the filming, and none was placed in harm's
way.
Effective government means protecting vulnerable creatures like
manatees while still encouraging economic growth in our state. Bad Boys 2
will employ 300 Floridians in high-wage jobs. It's one of 22 motion
picture and television productions that have filmed here since I took
office and which have spurred the growth of this $3.9-billion industry
that employs more than 39,000 Floridians in 3,500 establishments. One of
the broader ways we protect our environment is by recruiting business that
is high-tech, low-polluting and promotes the beauty of our state.
Manatee deaths due to watercraft are a tragedy. To help protect them I
have supported additional law enforcement to ensure compliance with
targeted speed zones. I have supported a settlement agreement that
includes the creation and implementation of 14 new refuges and sanctuaries
for manatees. I also hosted a Manatee Summit in 2000 and recommended more
funds for research to find better methods of protecting manatees.
Florida manatees remain an endangered species, but through our efforts
we hope their numbers in our waters will continue to grow, even as our
film industry continues to thrive.
-- Jeb Bush, governor, Tallahassee -- letter
to St Pete Times, 8/15/02
