This is an excerpt from the Humane Society (HSUS) fall newsletter:
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Comm. (FWC) has voted to downlist the manatee, despite acknowledging that its population could be reduced in the next45 years by as much as 50 percent overall, and as much as 80 percent in s.w. Fla. While the manatee meets Federal and World Conservation Union definitions of "endangered" in Fla. it no longer qualifies for endangered status. Due to pressure from boating, marine and development interests, the FWC earlier changed its state listing/delisting rules so that they do not align with federal or international criteria. The FWC is playing with semantics to make it appear that the manatee is doing better than it really is.
Now opponents will tout the downlisting as proof that the state needs less protection for the manatees, which means they will push for less regulation of speed zones, development, and the building of marinas and docks. Under the new criteria, in order to be considered endangered the manatee would have to undergo, or be at risk of undergoing, an 80 percent decline in population, a situation that would surely doom the species, currently about 3,000. The HSUS has joined Save the Manatee Club, as well as 16 other groups, in petitioning the FWC to revisit its imperiled species classification system.
For more info on efforts to protect this gentle symbol of Fla. visit www.savethemanatee.org.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Comm. (FWC) has voted to downlist the manatee, despite acknowledging that its population could be reduced in the next45 years by as much as 50 percent overall, and as much as 80 percent in s.w. Fla. While the manatee meets Federal and World Conservation Union definitions of "endangered" in Fla. it no longer qualifies for endangered status. Due to pressure from boating, marine and development interests, the FWC earlier changed its state listing/delisting rules so that they do not align with federal or international criteria. The FWC is playing with semantics to make it appear that the manatee is doing better than it really is.
Now opponents will tout the downlisting as proof that the state needs less protection for the manatees, which means they will push for less regulation of speed zones, development, and the building of marinas and docks. Under the new criteria, in order to be considered endangered the manatee would have to undergo, or be at risk of undergoing, an 80 percent decline in population, a situation that would surely doom the species, currently about 3,000. The HSUS has joined Save the Manatee Club, as well as 16 other groups, in petitioning the FWC to revisit its imperiled species classification system.
For more info on efforts to protect this gentle symbol of Fla. visit www.savethemanatee.org.
