After Governor Charlie Crist recently asked the state wildlife agency to wait on deciding whether to downlist manatees, today the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission agreed to wait. The FWC will delay voting on whether to change the manatee’s status from endangered to threatened until at least December, when the agency meets again.
Although many people are saying manatees won’t suffer from less protection if they are classified as threatened rather than endangered, just take a look at the first two links in this post. Besides, as many others are saying, if the manatee’s status is changed, it might give the perception that their population is doing all right when it really isn’t. As mentioned yesterday, a record 417 manatees died last year. People continue to be unaware of — or to ignore — manatee protection rules. And the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service still considers manatees endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.
I know the FWC is meeting in December and might decide then to downlist manatees, but I think it would be better to wait until after the first couple weeks of the year, when the manatee mortality numbers from all of 2007 are finally in.
Black Coffee & Bourbon said,
September 12, 2007 @ 9:13 pm
Are there any positives for downlisting the manatees? If there are, I have not found them. I hope that the state does no decide to take this course of action. I would like to see greater enforcement of the manatee protection rules too.
Gopher tortoises, bald eagles missed out « EcoFlorida said,
September 13, 2007 @ 5:43 pm
[...] under gopher tortoises, bald eagles, Florida, development In the midst of the excitement over the manatee downlisting being delayed, Floridians seem to have missed other state wildlife agency decision making — namely, gopher [...]
U.S. says no to new boat slips; state and federal regulations can differ « EcoFlorida said,
September 13, 2007 @ 6:02 pm
[...] Commission was planning to change the manatee’s status from endangered to threatened. Then Governor Charlie Crist asked the FWC to wait on their decision. Then today’s St. Petersburg Times has an article explaining how the federal government [...]
Lisa P said,
September 17, 2007 @ 11:36 pm
Yes there is a positive to downlisting the manatee. It is that the manatee is no longer in danger of being extinct! It is also a positive if it allows folks more access to the water areas that had been closed because the manatee was endangered but is now threatened.
Maybe it will also make folks aware of other research that is going on into ways to keep the manatee away from motor boats, such as noise levels of fast moving boats, or loud boats, etc.
That research has been largely ignored by those who want to close public access in all wilderness areas whether on land or water. I for one would like to see this research move forward, and would love to see more species given the thumbs-up when their numbers show they are no longer in danger of becoming extinct.