USFWS Manatee Meeting dates and times
 

Here's the dates and times. Here's your chance to voice your opinion and help to try to SAVE POWERBOATING in FL!!!

U.S Fish and Wildlife Service
Releases
"Proposed Incidental Take Regulation"
There Are 6 Public Hearings
To be held across the state.
These are the most important meetings held to date on the Manatee issue. The regulation is a direct result of the law suite filed by Save The Manatee Club and the environmental coalition and the settlement agreement entered into behind closed doors. Make sure you read this document and understand what it could do to your rights as a boater, property owner, dock builder, contractor, boat dealer, or any other business.
http://northflorida.fws.gov/manatee/manatees.htm
EVERYONE MUST ATTEND THESE MEETINGS AND SPEAK OUT AGANST THIS REGULATION!
Meetings are from 6PM to 9PM

1. Harborside Convention Hall, 1375 Monroe Street, Ft Myers FL
Dec 2, 2002

2. Holiday Inn & Conference Center, 4732 N. Dale Mabry Hwy. Tampa FL
Dec 3, 2002

3. Radisson Hotel & Conference Center, 3101 N Highway A1A, Melbourne, FL
Dec 4, 2002

4.Daytona Beach Resort & Conference Center, 2700 N Atlantic Ave. Daytona Beach, FL Dec 5, 2002

5. Holiday Inn, 201 N. 1st Street, Palatka, FL Dec 9, 2002

6. Doubletree University Florida Hotel & Conference Center, 1714 SW 34th Street, Gainesville, FL
Dec 10, 2002

This was on the www.standing-watch.org website.
MD

Dec 3...I'll be there.

Dean-grab a recent copy of the BoatUS magazine. They had a article in there that you'd find interesting. It was on some boaters rights organizations.

I read it too, cord...It was, indeed, Standing-watch. Good article.
That was the second good FL/Manatee article Boat-U.S. published in two issues.

I loved the t-shirt that one guys was wearing. "Endangered Species: Fl Boater"

DEC 2 I will be there, :mad: :p

Will

Great thinking Dean, I would have never know about this if it wasn't for you and OSO. But I guess that is the way STMC would like it.>>>> Too Bad

Will and BD,

Here's some MORE BAD NEWS! I feel really bad for the people who haven't been able to get their dock permits, not to mention there will be NO NEW MARINAS, BOAT RAMPS, ETC!!!!!


New manatee plan called a ‘disaster’

A new federal manatee plan released last week in Florida attempting to place a moratorium on dock, marina and boat ramp construction in the Southwest region of the state will “severely damage recreational boating and tourism in the state of Florida,” a marine industry leader said this morning.

David Ray, executive director of the Marine Industries Association of Florida, says the organization’s 12-member board met Saturday in Fort Lauderdale to discuss the latest U.S. Fish and Wildlife proposal, which MIA believes will have a “huge negative economic impact” on the Florida economy.

“It’s just a disaster,” says Ray. “We think U.S. Fish and Wildlife rushed through this process because of the [manatee] lawsuits, and didn’t think this through very clearly.”

The federal agency’s proposal, Ray says, will prohibit both state and local government from giving any money to fund projects granting any type of water access — including public and private docks, marinas and boat ramps — in Southwest Florida.

In terms of new construction, “Tampa Bay to Key West will be shut down,” says Ray.

The “primary areas” affected by the proposal, Ray says, include Lee, Collier, Pinellas, Charlotte and Monroe counties. In Lee County alone, Ray says, there are more than 700 permits awaiting approval.

And the moratorium on new construction is just the tip of the iceberg, says Ray. If people can’t find places to keep their boats, he says, it is inevitable that new boat sales will drop off. The attitude, he says, is, “We’d love to buy one, but where do we put it?”

An even bigger problem than the potential threat to boat sales, says Ray, is the notion that once U.S. Fish and Wildlife shuts down permitting in one part of the state, “They can do it in other parts, too.”

“It will spread anywhere there’s a problem,” he says.

There has been a rash of manatee deaths in the Southwest portion of the state recently, which Ray says explains U.S. Fish , and Wildlife’s desire to halt the permitting process in that area.


Guys,
This can't get any more serious than this!!!! We all need to make the time to go to these meetings and write/email/call your local elected officals!!!
The $MC is even starting to talk about "Rationing" the # of boats that can use the waterways in FL!!
MD

Oh, I read the title of the post and I thought this was a meeting for the MANATEES to attend. I figured it was a great idea cause somebody could just go ahead and round them up and ship them to Marineworld and get them out of the waterways.

Then there would be no reason for the stupid manatee zones...

*everybody KNOWS that manatees can't hear an idling boat. The best way to keep them from being hit is to run above 3000rpm where they CAN hear you and can get out of the way.

* I've never seen a "slow your car to 5mph - possum zone" and I KNOW that more possums get smashed by cars than manatees and boats...

I will be there on the 5th and take along a group.
I cant wait!! I hope we outnumber the stm club 2-1.
Billy

Billy,
Sounds good, and that's the whole idea!! Ask USFWS what makes them think that they know more about the Manatee's status than the FFWCC, which is recommending that the Manatee status be downgraded from Endangered to Threaten!! The Manatee is NOT ENDANGERED any more, and probobly never was!!

All this is a result of the $MC lawsuit that the USFWS and FFWCC should have NEVER SETTTLED!! By settling the $MC lawsuit, the USFWS and FFWCC have signed up to regulations that are based on THE LAWSUIT, not on SCIENCE!!

Example;

THE USFWS came to Brevard Co. 7/2002 and made ALL of the Barge Canal, (9 Miles!!) a Manatee zone, (~5 MPH). Well, guess what, 6 Manatees have died in the barge canal since 7/2002!! And guess who uses the Barge Canal 4 x's a day, FPL's Tugs/barges, which travel ~10-12 MPH! And guess who sided with the $MC against CFW and Standing-Watch in the Manatee Lawsuit, FPL did!! The USFWS and FFWCC continue to allow the FPL tugs/barges travel thru the barge canal @ these speeds, but restrict recreational boaters to ~5MPH! FPL's tugs/barges are the ones killing Manatess!!!!

TS
I think OJ is still on the run from the bench warrant that was issued for him last week in Ft. Laud.!!:D

MD:cool: