seagrant
09-12-2007, 10:42 PM
With all the interest in the Florida Manatee in this forum I thought you all might be interested in this:
If any of you have been following the forum posts on the status of the Florida Manatee you know that even after a recent record number of deaths impacting the manatee population in Florida a proposal was made to down-list the manatee's endangered status to just "threatened". This was due to a re-wording of the criteria for listing of endangered species at the state level and not due to any real sustainable recovery of the manatee.
Many of us wrote letters to then Gov. Jeb Bush.
I was concerned and am still very concerned that our new Republican Gov. Charlie Crist would, well I'll just say not look after the manatee's interests.
I don't know if this "postponement" is good or bad but I look at it as a bit of a good sign. It shows Gov. Crist is acting responsibly (or passing the buck, whatever....); but the manatee has been granted a little more time before the final decision at state level is made on its listing under the endangered species act as "endangered" or "threatened". The listing to "threatened" was pretty far along but this postponement might be a ray of hope.
Down-listing the manatee from endangered to threatened at state level would almost surely result in less protection measures being put in place even when more and more threats are mounting in their environment. And as I've stated before Florida is the guardian of the population of the manatee for the entire country. Florida must act responsibly in this matter and not be swayed by large moneyed boating and development interests.
I sincerely hope this extra time is a good thing and there is still time for anyone who wants to weigh in on the matter to do so. There are many ways of doing this and I think our letters/emails to the governors surely did some sort of good.
Here is a statement of the "postponement":
September 12, 2007
FWC postpones vote on manatee management plan, reclassification
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) postponed a decision Wednesday to adopt a new management plan and two rules to reclassify manatees from endangered to threatened.
Commissioners had planned to take final action on the proposals during their Sept. 12 session, but Gov. Charlie Crist, in a Sept. 10 letter to FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto, asked for the postponement. Crist expressed concern that three FWC commissioners have just begun their terms and may need more time to evaluate manatee issues.
"ll get with the governor and address his concerns" Barreto said.
New commissioners Dwight Stephenson, Ron Bergeron and Kenneth Wright said they will make every effort to be prepared to vote on the issue by the FWCs December meeting in Key Largo.
Here is an example of what we need to protect, taken by myself Feb 07:
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c17/seagrant/Manatee_8Feb07005_webxx-1.jpg
If any of you have been following the forum posts on the status of the Florida Manatee you know that even after a recent record number of deaths impacting the manatee population in Florida a proposal was made to down-list the manatee's endangered status to just "threatened". This was due to a re-wording of the criteria for listing of endangered species at the state level and not due to any real sustainable recovery of the manatee.
Many of us wrote letters to then Gov. Jeb Bush.
I was concerned and am still very concerned that our new Republican Gov. Charlie Crist would, well I'll just say not look after the manatee's interests.
I don't know if this "postponement" is good or bad but I look at it as a bit of a good sign. It shows Gov. Crist is acting responsibly (or passing the buck, whatever....); but the manatee has been granted a little more time before the final decision at state level is made on its listing under the endangered species act as "endangered" or "threatened". The listing to "threatened" was pretty far along but this postponement might be a ray of hope.
Down-listing the manatee from endangered to threatened at state level would almost surely result in less protection measures being put in place even when more and more threats are mounting in their environment. And as I've stated before Florida is the guardian of the population of the manatee for the entire country. Florida must act responsibly in this matter and not be swayed by large moneyed boating and development interests.
I sincerely hope this extra time is a good thing and there is still time for anyone who wants to weigh in on the matter to do so. There are many ways of doing this and I think our letters/emails to the governors surely did some sort of good.
Here is a statement of the "postponement":
September 12, 2007
FWC postpones vote on manatee management plan, reclassification
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) postponed a decision Wednesday to adopt a new management plan and two rules to reclassify manatees from endangered to threatened.
Commissioners had planned to take final action on the proposals during their Sept. 12 session, but Gov. Charlie Crist, in a Sept. 10 letter to FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto, asked for the postponement. Crist expressed concern that three FWC commissioners have just begun their terms and may need more time to evaluate manatee issues.
"ll get with the governor and address his concerns" Barreto said.
New commissioners Dwight Stephenson, Ron Bergeron and Kenneth Wright said they will make every effort to be prepared to vote on the issue by the FWCs December meeting in Key Largo.
Here is an example of what we need to protect, taken by myself Feb 07:
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c17/seagrant/Manatee_8Feb07005_webxx-1.jpg