MANATEE downlisting poll - HELP Please.
06-07-2006, 04:02 PM
#1
Platinum Member
Platinum MemberThread Starter
MANATEE downlisting poll - HELP Please.
For what it's worth, please vote on this poll.
Thanks!!
http://www.floridatoday.com/polls/localpoll.htm
Thanks!!
http://www.floridatoday.com/polls/localpoll.htm
06-07-2006, 04:58 PM
#2
Registered
Re: MANATEE downlisting poll - HELP Please.
I wish it made a difference. As you know when it comes to this issue we have no State's rights. Whatever the $MC wants the USFWS will comply.
They wield a mighty stick.
Just this past weekend there was a massive show of force. They brought in 30 additional officers plus helicopters and planes to enforce the laws.
What do you suppose that cost the taxpayers?
We can keep on trying till the sea cows come home.
Yeah, I'm a little bitter about the whole subject.
They wield a mighty stick.
Just this past weekend there was a massive show of force. They brought in 30 additional officers plus helicopters and planes to enforce the laws.
What do you suppose that cost the taxpayers?
We can keep on trying till the sea cows come home.
Yeah, I'm a little bitter about the whole subject.
06-07-2006, 05:07 PM
#3
Charter Member
Charter Member
Re: MANATEE downlisting poll - HELP Please.
I voted! 
Here's the article
Manatees' ranking expected to change
Regulations divide developers, conservationists
BY JIM WAYMER
FLORIDA TODAY
Enlarge this image
On the list. A manatee makes it to the surface in April at KARS Park on Merritt Island. State wildlife officials today plan to move ahead with "downlisting" manatees from "endangered" to "threatened," reflecting healthier numbers in recent years. For FLORIDA TODAY
WEB EXTRAS
Endangered wildlife.
Swimming Manatees
Poll: Do you think manatees' status in Florida should be lowered from "endangered" to "threatened?"
Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission agenda
Related news from the Web
Latest headlines by topic:
• Environmental Law
• Law
Powered by Topix.net
ADVERTISEMENT
What status means in the state
Florida passed its Endangered Species Act in 1976. The list has 118 protected species.
A higher status can result in more restrictions on boating to protect manatees, for example, or stiffer building practices to protect tortoises or birds.
Each status level has five criteria that can land an animal on the list.
"Endangered" species must have a projected population drop of at least 80 percent within the next 10 years or three generations (45 years for manatees), whichever is longer.
For "threatened," the threshold is a population decline of at least 50 percent within the next 10 years or three generations.
For "species of special concern," a 30 percent decline within the next 10 years or three generations.
Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
If you fancy a dock someday or a chance to boat faster, or you think there's too much of both going on, pay attention. Things soon could change along the waterfront, depending on what happens with the humble sea cow.
State wildlife officials today plan to move ahead with "downlisting" manatees from "endangered" to "threatened," reflecting healthier numbers in recent years.
The manatee is one of four species up for review Wednesday by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, the first to fall under a new listing process created last year.
Conservationists worry the changes could open the door for more docks, fewer slow-speed boating zones and other "downlistings" that would give developers free rein to build in ways that harm habitat -- wet and dry.
But to sport fishing and other marine interests pushing a lower listing, it would mean a less emotionally charged label for the manatee and hope for tempered boating and permitting rules they say went too far.
State biologists say new listings won't affect the federal "endangered" listing or erase protections, at least in the short term, and will lend more scientific credibility to how they establish species protections.
Both sides are lobbying hard for their way of listing the manatee. Marine interests want specific population numbers and trends to drive the process. Manatee advocates prefer more flexible and species-specific listing rules that take into account the potential for abrupt dieoffs, such as those caused by red tide.
"This is the most intensively peer-reviewed process that any state or any nation has ever
done," said Steven Webster, executive director of the Florida Marine Contractors Association, a trade group that lobbies to soften manatee regulations. "So at this point, to reject it is an admission that it's nothing but politics."
Pat Rose, a lobbyist with Save the Manatee Club in Tallahassee, also senses some political maneuvering but says it's coming from marine interests, not his club.
"We would love to be celebrating downlisting of manatees," Rose said, if it were only because of the increasing population. "Unfortunately, it's because of the wrong reasons. It's because they changed all the rules."
That happened last year, when the state wildlife commission adopted new criteria for listing species.
Not the federal list
The manatee controversy is expected to invoke better protections for a tortoise and a crayfish, and a full recovery for the nation's symbol.
The gopher tortoise and the Panama City crayfish both could climb a rung on the state's list -- which includes 118 animals -- from "species of special concern" to "threatened." The bald eagle could drop from the list completely.
Florida's list, separate from the federal endangered species list, typically drives which wildlife gets the most government attention and money. Federal dollars come back to Florida to help the state develop and execute plans to recover species.
But state biologists say they've often relied on gut instinct or consensus among their peers rather than specific numerical criteria when listing animals such as the manatee. Under the new process, they must focus more on the numbers and population projections.
Manatee advocacy groups say there needs to be more consideration of habitat stability, reducing watercraft-related manatee deaths and survival and reproduction rates of different manatee age groups.
What won't change
Any change in the manatee's status won't affect the federal listing as endangered, wildlife officials say, or nullify new slow-speed zones that took effect along much of the Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County in 2001. But environmentalists fear it's a tactic to gut manatee protections and, ultimately, the federal listing.
In October 2002, state biologists recommended threatened status for manatees, based on the state's listing criteria.
The most recent statewide count spotted 3,113 manatees, up from 1,267 in 1991.
Boaters say those numbers prove the species' robust recovery. They point to significant causes of manatee deaths other than boat strikes that the government does little to stop. Nearly as many die each year from cold stress because they have ventured farther north during the winter because of warmer water near power plants, they argue.
But environmental groups say red tides, boats and depleted warm water springs where manatees winter can claim hundreds of the animals in a single year.
Biologists can't say for sure how many animals other than manatees might drop on the state's list, under the new listing criteria. But Rose says slow-to-reproduce species, such as the sea cow, defy Florida's one-size-fits-all approach.
"The legislature will assume manatees are doing so much better," he said. "We could lose hundreds of manatees in one winter."
Contact Waymer at 242-3663 or [email protected].
And Terry's right, the USFWS trumps the FFWCC everytime.
Man, do I HATE the $MC!!! 
Mean Dean
Here's the article
Manatees' ranking expected to change
Regulations divide developers, conservationists
BY JIM WAYMER
FLORIDA TODAY
Enlarge this image
On the list. A manatee makes it to the surface in April at KARS Park on Merritt Island. State wildlife officials today plan to move ahead with "downlisting" manatees from "endangered" to "threatened," reflecting healthier numbers in recent years. For FLORIDA TODAY
WEB EXTRAS
Endangered wildlife.
Swimming Manatees
Poll: Do you think manatees' status in Florida should be lowered from "endangered" to "threatened?"
Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission agenda
Related news from the Web
Latest headlines by topic:
• Environmental Law
• Law
Powered by Topix.net
ADVERTISEMENT
What status means in the state
Florida passed its Endangered Species Act in 1976. The list has 118 protected species.
A higher status can result in more restrictions on boating to protect manatees, for example, or stiffer building practices to protect tortoises or birds.
Each status level has five criteria that can land an animal on the list.
"Endangered" species must have a projected population drop of at least 80 percent within the next 10 years or three generations (45 years for manatees), whichever is longer.
For "threatened," the threshold is a population decline of at least 50 percent within the next 10 years or three generations.
For "species of special concern," a 30 percent decline within the next 10 years or three generations.
Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
If you fancy a dock someday or a chance to boat faster, or you think there's too much of both going on, pay attention. Things soon could change along the waterfront, depending on what happens with the humble sea cow.
State wildlife officials today plan to move ahead with "downlisting" manatees from "endangered" to "threatened," reflecting healthier numbers in recent years.
The manatee is one of four species up for review Wednesday by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, the first to fall under a new listing process created last year.
Conservationists worry the changes could open the door for more docks, fewer slow-speed boating zones and other "downlistings" that would give developers free rein to build in ways that harm habitat -- wet and dry.
But to sport fishing and other marine interests pushing a lower listing, it would mean a less emotionally charged label for the manatee and hope for tempered boating and permitting rules they say went too far.
State biologists say new listings won't affect the federal "endangered" listing or erase protections, at least in the short term, and will lend more scientific credibility to how they establish species protections.
Both sides are lobbying hard for their way of listing the manatee. Marine interests want specific population numbers and trends to drive the process. Manatee advocates prefer more flexible and species-specific listing rules that take into account the potential for abrupt dieoffs, such as those caused by red tide.
"This is the most intensively peer-reviewed process that any state or any nation has ever
done," said Steven Webster, executive director of the Florida Marine Contractors Association, a trade group that lobbies to soften manatee regulations. "So at this point, to reject it is an admission that it's nothing but politics."
Pat Rose, a lobbyist with Save the Manatee Club in Tallahassee, also senses some political maneuvering but says it's coming from marine interests, not his club.
"We would love to be celebrating downlisting of manatees," Rose said, if it were only because of the increasing population. "Unfortunately, it's because of the wrong reasons. It's because they changed all the rules."
That happened last year, when the state wildlife commission adopted new criteria for listing species.
Not the federal list
The manatee controversy is expected to invoke better protections for a tortoise and a crayfish, and a full recovery for the nation's symbol.
The gopher tortoise and the Panama City crayfish both could climb a rung on the state's list -- which includes 118 animals -- from "species of special concern" to "threatened." The bald eagle could drop from the list completely.
Florida's list, separate from the federal endangered species list, typically drives which wildlife gets the most government attention and money. Federal dollars come back to Florida to help the state develop and execute plans to recover species.
But state biologists say they've often relied on gut instinct or consensus among their peers rather than specific numerical criteria when listing animals such as the manatee. Under the new process, they must focus more on the numbers and population projections.
Manatee advocacy groups say there needs to be more consideration of habitat stability, reducing watercraft-related manatee deaths and survival and reproduction rates of different manatee age groups.
What won't change
Any change in the manatee's status won't affect the federal listing as endangered, wildlife officials say, or nullify new slow-speed zones that took effect along much of the Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County in 2001. But environmentalists fear it's a tactic to gut manatee protections and, ultimately, the federal listing.
In October 2002, state biologists recommended threatened status for manatees, based on the state's listing criteria.
The most recent statewide count spotted 3,113 manatees, up from 1,267 in 1991.
Boaters say those numbers prove the species' robust recovery. They point to significant causes of manatee deaths other than boat strikes that the government does little to stop. Nearly as many die each year from cold stress because they have ventured farther north during the winter because of warmer water near power plants, they argue.
But environmental groups say red tides, boats and depleted warm water springs where manatees winter can claim hundreds of the animals in a single year.
Biologists can't say for sure how many animals other than manatees might drop on the state's list, under the new listing criteria. But Rose says slow-to-reproduce species, such as the sea cow, defy Florida's one-size-fits-all approach.
"The legislature will assume manatees are doing so much better," he said. "We could lose hundreds of manatees in one winter."
Contact Waymer at 242-3663 or [email protected].
And Terry's right, the USFWS trumps the FFWCC everytime.
Man, do I HATE the $MC!!! Mean Dean
06-07-2006, 05:35 PM
#5
Platinum Member
Platinum MemberThread Starter
Re: MANATEE downlisting poll - HELP Please.
Originally Posted by salesmanship
I wish it made a difference. As you know when it comes to this issue we have no State's rights. Whatever the $MC wants the USFWS will comply.
They wield a mighty stick.
Just this past weekend there was a massive show of force. They brought in 30 additional officers plus helicopters and planes to enforce the laws.
What do you suppose that cost the taxpayers?
We can keep on trying till the sea cows come home.
Yeah, I'm a little bitter about the whole subject.
They wield a mighty stick.
Just this past weekend there was a massive show of force. They brought in 30 additional officers plus helicopters and planes to enforce the laws.
What do you suppose that cost the taxpayers?
We can keep on trying till the sea cows come home.
Yeah, I'm a little bitter about the whole subject.
Thanks for the article, Dean!
06-07-2006, 11:32 PM
#8
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Join Date: Dec 2005
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Re: MANATEE downlisting poll - HELP Please.
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBOUUPH6OE.html
It looks like the seven-member Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to move the manatee off the state's endangered species list.
Before I know it maybe I can sell them in my restaurant.
It looks like the seven-member Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to move the manatee off the state's endangered species list.
Before I know it maybe I can sell them in my restaurant.
