Dean Ferry

Urge Senate Not to Scapegoat Manatees

The Issue:
As if the recent House passage of Representative Richard Pombo’s (R-CA) bill virtually gutting the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) wasn’t bad enough, it also included a last minute amendment by Representative Adam Putnam (R-FL) that supports previous efforts by the Florida Marine Contractor’s Association to exclude the endangered manatee from protections under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

The MMPA extends additional protections beyond the ESA to all marine mammals. This further protection may prove to be critically important to manatees because the marine industries and boating rights groups seek to take the manatee's imperiled status away, both at the state and federal levels.

What You Can Do: Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) is Chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works' Subcommittee on Fish, Wildlife, and Water. Please let Senator Chafee know you strongly oppose weakening the ESA and oppose any amendment to the ESA that would exempt manatees from the protections of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. You can do this by adding your comments below and filling in the information to the right.

Next, please call, e-mail, or send a fax to the two U.S. senators from your state and give them the same message. If you send an e-mail, you can copy and paste the letter below, and please be sure to put "Don't Scapegoat Manatees" in your subject line. You can get contact information for your senators and send e-mails by visiting www.congress.org. You can also call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Give them your zip code and ask for the phone numbers for your senators and representative.




Subject: Don't Scapegoat Manatees

Dear Senator Chafee:

I strongly OPPOSE weakening the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and I strongly OPPOSE any amendment to the ESA that would exempt manatees from the protections of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

Recently, Congressman Adam Putnam, working on behalf of those who want to build docks in manatee habitat, included a last minute amendment to Congressman Pombo's bill on the federal Endangered Species Act to exclude the endangered manatee from protections under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

Under Congressman Putnam’s amendment, if the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service performs an ESA consultation with a federal permitting agency on dock building projects that could affect manatees, the consultation will be considered the equivalent of an MMPA incidental take authorization and will allow projects that would likely hurt or kill manatees to move forward with little or no conservation measures. This amendment is a blatant attack on manatees, especially since boat strikes continue to be the largest known cause of manatee deaths in Florida.

In some cases, individual docks on public submerged lands have been sold/conveyed for huge amounts. Developers and the marine industries are anxious to ensure manatees don’t get in the way of their modern-day gold rush. The practical effect of the Putnam amendment is a legal sanction to actually injure or kill manatees by permitting the construction of docks and the associated boating operations in manatee habitat.

Private property rights issues have largely driven the revision of the ESA. The great irony is that manatees are found over publicly owned submerged lands -- the water bottoms of rivers, estuaries, and bays. These lands are like public parks -- they are managed by the state in trust for all the people. Virtually everyone agrees that imperiled species should be protected when they inhabit public lands, but the manatee has been scapegoated.

The Putnam amendment is really about sacrificing manatees for the huge profits of a few. Please oppose any weakening of the ESA or any amendments that would exempt manatees from the protections of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Thank you so much for safeguarding America’s treasures.

I believe the $MC is beginning to feel like they are going to be EXSTINCT soon!

Dean

BAJA WILL

I hope they do get booted, STM sucks, when I lived in FL it was them, when I lived in DC it was PETA. Same idiots different place.

Jupiter Sunsation

This bill needs to happen! The manatee thing has gotten way out of hand. A good friend of mine is a marine contractor and they are having a tough time getting permits etc for docks because some knuckleheads don't want any more docks since that will lower the amount of boats on the water which will lower manatee deaths. How is that for cyclical reasoning? This hurts owners of waterfront property (who can't have water access they paid for), boat manufacturers/ salesman/ mechanics as well as marine contractors who won't be able to do their jobs as well. Notice I haven't mentioned the go fast guys who will be idling for hours from Nov 15 to April so that if there was a manatee within 20 miles then they won't get run over! I don't think the positives outweigh the negatives in this case. Seems like the marine industry will get squeezed from another angle (after high insurance and gas prices, nevermind the rising costs of boat ownership).

BBB725

I have been waiting over 2 years for the permit for my dock in the Keys. I have made every change they have ask for and still no permit. I started the process when I bought the lot and waited to start building, the house will probably be done before the dock.

pstorti

iTrader: (2)

Hey Dean do you work for save the mantee club or what?

CigDaze

No, not at all. Dean is on our side in a big way. He just posts this stuff so we can be aware of the $MC's activities.

Dean Ferry

Nope, my quote from my 1st post.

"I believe the $MC is beginning to feel like they are going to be EXSTINCT soon!"


pstorti,
Do you work for the $MC?
Dean