BonitaNews.com
June 12, 2007
Manatee advocates don’t want
its status downgraded to threatened
By Jeremy Cox
The manatee faces too many threats to its survival
to knock the lumbering mammal from the ranks of Florida’s most endangered
creatures, environmentalists say.
Yet that is what a governor-appointed commission is
planning to do. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will hear
a revised report today in Melbourne on the manatee’s status.
The 259-page report calls for the gentle sea cow to
be reclassified as threatened, echoing a similar finding by federal scientists
in April. That’s nothing new — the state commission voted to pursue such a
recommendation one year ago when the report was in its first-draft form.
The revision deletes language that seemed to permit
a 30 percent decline in the manatee’s already scanty numbers. And it sets
strict deadlines for putting manatee-protection measures in place.
But to the ears of a leading manatee advocacy
group, it sounds like the same old story.
“It’s rephrased. I’m not sure it’s going to be any
more effective,” said Pat Rose, executive director of Save the Manatee.
By downlisting the manatee, wildlife officials are
sending the wrong message to lawmakers, Rose said. The sunny news might compel
legislators to loosen rules aimed at shielding the waters that manatees use
from increased development.
The Conservation Commission is slated to make a
final decision in September. And, Rose said, the move couldn’t come at a worse
time.
The manatee report, written by the commission’s own
scientists and other experts, acknowledges the existence of several obstacles
in the animal’s path. Boat-related deaths, which account for one of three known
manatee deaths, are expected to increase along with Florida’s coastal
population.
Red tide, a toxic algae that sickens and kills sea
cows, will occur “at greater frequencies,” according to the report. Hurricanes
will be as fierce as ever, if not more, thanks to global warming.
Some of the aging power plants whose discharges of
warm water provide winter refuges for manatees are scheduled to wind down
production and eventually close. Natural springs that also keep manatees warm
are losing their flow to drinking water demands.
“We feel the science for the most part is good
science, but it doesn’t mix with the message,” Rose said.
Scientists’ decision to reclassify the manatee as
threatened was taken lightly, said FWC spokeswoman Mary Scott Gilbert.
“They reviewed a number of factors and ran hundreds
of computer models for population projections,” she said. The result: “The
manatee is still at a high risk of extinction. ... It’s just not on the brink
of extinction anymore, and the best science tells us that.”
Actions outlined in the report include:
• Developing a statistically sound method for
counting manatees within three years.
• Write plans within five years with the help of
power plant owners to “prevent significant future manatee mortality” caused by
changes in their operations.
• Work with local water management districts to
establish minimum flows for natural springs within five years.
Deeper in the report, scientists still acknowledge
that the species faces a 46 percent chance of a 30 percent reduction in its
numbers over the next three generations and a 12 percent chance of a 50 percent
drop. Both parameters still meet the “threatened” criteria, though.