Manatee "Reclassification" Decision Postponed

If any of you have been following the forum posts on the status of the Florida Manatee you know that even after a recent record number of deaths impacting the manatee population in Florida a proposal was made to down-list the manatee's endangered status to just "threatened". This was due to a re-wording of the criteria for listing of endangered species at the state level and not due to any real sustainable recovery of the manatee.

Many of us wrote letters to then Gov. Jeb Bush.

I was concerned and am still very concerned that our new Republican Gov. Charlie Crist would, well I'll just say not look after the manatee's interests.

I don't know if this "postponement" is good or bad but I look at it as a bit of a good sign. It shows Gov. Crist is acting responsibly (or passing the buck, whatever....); but the manatee has been granted a little more time before the final decision at state level is made on its listing under the endangered species act as "endangered" or "threatened". The listing to "threatened" was pretty far along but this postponement might be a ray of hope.

Down-listing the manatee from endangered to threatened at state level would almost surely result in less protection measures being put in place even when more and more threats are mounting in their environment. And as I've stated before Florida is the guardian of the population of the manatee for the entire country. Florida must act responsibly in this matter and not be swayed by large moneyed boating and development interests.

I sincerely hope this extra time is a good thing and there is still time for anyone who wants to weigh in on the matter to do so. There are many ways of doing this and I think our letters/emails to the governors surely did some sort of good.

Here is a statement of the "postponement":

September 12, 2007

FWC postpones vote on manatee management plan, reclassification

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) postponed a decision Wednesday to adopt a new management plan and two rules to reclassify manatees from endangered to threatened.

Commissioners had planned to take final action on the proposals during their Sept. 12 session, but Gov. Charlie Crist, in a Sept. 10 letter to FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto, asked for the postponement. Crist expressed concern that three FWC commissioners have just begun their terms and may need more time to evaluate manatee issues.

"ll get with the governor and address his concerns" Barreto said.

New commissioners Dwight Stephenson, Ron Bergeron and Kenneth Wright said they will make every effort to be prepared to vote on the issue by the FWCs December meeting in Key Largo.

Carol,

I hope the postponement results in more protection for the manatee

cheers

Leander

Considering that the Manatee is such a symbol of Florida, on the licence plates and all, you think that the Governor would want to make sure it is as well protected as possible. Lets hope so.

Alex

I have to say that Gov. Charlie Crist is showing a bit of "moxie"........

(But Alex you probably have no idea how strong the "other" lobbies are sighting "boaters' rights" and rights to develop coastal lands.)

Still kudos to Gov. Charlie Crist for now lets see how it plays out (actually we won't just see we will take action)

Here is his letter requesting the postponement from Sept 11th (quotes from):

Crist asks FWC to postpone manatee decisions

Gov. Charlie Crist’s request that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) postpone action on major manatee issues will get serious consideration when the FWC convenes Wednesday morning.

“This is important to the governor, so I am going to recommend to the other commissioners that we defer action on these matters,†FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto said. “However, we probably will have people who travel to St. Petersburg for the meeting to offer public comments, so will accommodate them.â€

Specifically, the FWC’s agenda for the three-day meeting includes adoption of a new management plan for manatees and rule proposals to reclassify the species from endangered to threatened.

In a Sept. 10 letter to FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto, Crist applauded the agency’s efforts to implement a strong, thorough management plan for manatees. However, the governor expressed concern about current methods of estimating manatee populations and the record number of manatee deaths in 2006. Crist asked the FWC to postpone the manatee items on the agenda -- to give new commissioners more time to evaluate the complex issue “of such gravity.â€

Two FWC commissioners will be attending their first FWC meeting and a third commissioner will be attending his second meeting. The FWC has seven commissioners.

The FWC meeting will convene at 8:30 a.m. all three days. The complete agenda is available at MyFWC.com under “Commission Meetings.â€