Dean Ferry

The latest Bull $hit from the $MC webiste!



"Please Don't Downlist Manatees

The Issue:
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWCC) Biological Review Panel has issued a report recommending that manatees be downlisted from endangered to threatened status on the state level.

This latest move is a triumph of politics over science. Manatees are poised to be downlisted regardless of how they are faring in the wild because of a calculated effort by special interest groups opposed to boat speed zones and restrictions on development.

And the FWCC has done its part by adopting state listing/delisting criteria so stringent that manatees would have to undergo or be at risk of undergoing an 80% decline in population before they would be listed as endangered in Florida.

What You Can Do:
In June, the Commissioners will vote to finalize the manatee’s listing status, but we need to act now. We need to flood the office of Florida Governor Jeb Bush with calls and letters. Please send the following letter to the governor telling him that you oppose downlisting manatees in Florida and call his office at 850-488-4441 to express your concern.



Subject: Please Don't Downlist Manatees

Dear Governor Bush:

I oppose downlisting manatees from their current endangered status in Florida, and I am asking you to do the same.

The new rule language the state has adopted to classify Florida’s imperiled species is deeply flawed and has been criticized by numerous eminent scientists.

Moreover, the state is playing “the name game,” adopting rule categories based the World Conservation Union’s (IUCN) standards for listing species, but refusing to use the corresponding IUCN term for each category. For example, the FWCC uses the criteria in the IUCN’s “endangered,” category but labels it as “threatened.”

Last year was the second highest manatee mortality year on record. Just in the last five years, 1,682 manatees have died from all causes in Florida waters. That is almost an 18% increase over the previous five year period. Further, in the last five years, 398 manatees were killed by boats. That’s a 17% increase over the previous five year period.

Current scientific data do not support the notion that there is an increase in the manatee population, and threats to manatees and their habitat are increasing. In fact, the FWCC’s own scientific panel has determined that the statewide manatee population could likely decline 50% in the future, and the Southwest manatee population could decline as much as 80%.

The message you are sending to people like me who care about manatees is it is okay that more manatees are dying in Florida waters. That’s unacceptable to me, and it should be unacceptable to you.


Add Your Comments:




Sincerely,

[ Your name ]
[ Your address ]



Thanks for your help and support! "



The Florida FWCC has finally gotten off the $MC payroll, and now the $MC is really beginning to lose ground!
Now if we can just get the Feds to listen.
Dean

Dregsz

As much as the No wake zones are a PITA, can you boat in good consconscious at speed tearing those blubber balls up?

Seeing pics of a manatee with a head to toe prop scar down it's back is something you won't forget for a long time.

Scott B

No problem D, we'll pack em up and send em to ya...

CigDaze

Alright. That being said, let's continue downlisting the manatee.

LostinBoston

There is also research saying that manates can hear a boat travelign at 25 mph better then one traveling at 12 and react faster and mre likely to get out of its way. PLus a boat at 12 is not on plane so if a manatee dives down, the prop is closer to it then it woudl be if on a plane at 25-35 mph. So in conclusion, goin 25 is better for mnatees then going 12. I agree that a maximum wake shoudl continue to be inforced in parts of the intercoastal though.

Clay Washington

Sounds like the number of manatees has grown by 18%!

Dean Ferry

Dregz,
I boat without concern of hitting a manatee, because I have NEVER HIT A MANATEE in 16 years of boating in Fl. I don't know of any recreational boater who has ever hit a manatee, and I boat with a fairly large group here in Merritt Island. There is no data out there that shows that Manatee Zones protect Manatees at all!

Please take the time to educate yourself as to the TRUTH about the Manatee! Visit www.cffw.org and learn what the real menace is to the Manatees are, the barges/tugs and commercial vessels, which use Florida's SHALLOW inland waterways! These vessels, (especaily fully loaded barges which are ~ 1-2 feet from the bottom of the channel) are the ones the Manatees can't see or HEAR coming, and they get hit. And of course the $MC is the Manatee's number 1 ENEMY!
Dean

offshoredrillin

I think we all would hate to see an animal in pain or dieing. The main problem is the SMC using false info to get boats out of certain areas.
It's like it is up here with the deer, they are building houses all over and more deer are getting hit, while "other" things are destroying their habitat, are cars the reason? The destruction of Manatee habitat isnt the boats but the SMC wants people to believe it is. Tres Martin had a great article on his site about the affects of golf course run off on the manatee habitat, I dont see the SMC trying to ban golf courses.

Formula Outlaw

The only thing the SMC is truely interested in is saving their cushy jobs.

That group has NEVER been straight with the public on information concerning the Manatee since it's inception.

The fact is that in the last fifteen years the Manatee population has grown by over 300% (despite the swordfight I got into with FasterthanCrap about this issue)

And the worst thing is the death increase last year was caused by RED TIDE, something that the SMC seemed to neglect to mention only because they have not yet found a way to blame Red Tide on Powerboats.

ratman

what is the largest diameter cleaver you can put on a ssm #3. do manatees like props spinning in or out?

i get that warm fuzzy feeling when i see one with prop damage! exactly how many boat propellers are attacked by manatee every year?