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Florida Manatees Could Face Fatal Downlisting
According to a recent briefing paper from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), the FWS is preparing a recommendation to downgrade or "downlist" the manatee from its present "endangered" status to "threatened" under the Federal Endangered Species Act. This will reduce protections now in place for manatees in order to facilitate construction of more marinas and other development in critical coastal habitat areas. Environmental critics charge that the move is part of a larger plan by the Bush Administration to gut the Endangered Species Act in favor of increased development. The 417 manatee deaths recorded in 2006 represents the highest fatality rate in the three decades for which statistics have been kept, and followed a near-record fatality year in 2005. "Given that we saw the highest number of manatee deaths from human related causes in recorded history last year," said Valerie Sicignano, IDA's Manatee Campaign Manager, "downlisting the manatee is a terrible decision and could not have come at a worse time, as this species is already struggling to survive." Conservationists are concerned that the federal reclassification will aggravate the principal threats to manatee survival at a very unstable period. These threats include: - Boating Deaths: The legal basis for boat speed restrictions, already unevenly enforced, will be weakened by the new plan, despite the fact that speedboat collisions and propeller maiming are already the primary cause of manatee deaths. - Water Pollution: A new ongoing outbreak of red tide may have already claimed the lives of scores of manatees in Southwest Florida where researchers agree the sub-population is declining. This new threat source, along with algal blooms, will be aggravated by the growth in the region's human population. - Habitat Loss through Development: The destruction of the manatees' aquatic habitat to make way for new coastal development is already proceeding at a breakneck speed, and will only accelerate if protections are weakened. In addition, the manatee population could experience large die-offs as aging power plants go off-line. Power plant outfalls that serve as warm water refuges would no longer be available, leading to the possible loss of hundreds of wintering manatees to cold stress syndrome. Moreover, many of the Florida springs that manatees depend upon are declining in flow. Removal of the manatee's endangered status would likely undermine efforts to find alternative warm water sources. Despite all of these looming threats, which the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has determined could result in the loss of 50% of the manatee population in the next 45 years, FWC is also poised to downgrade the protected status of the manatee under state law. If the federal government follows suit, many fear that the remaining safety net for the manatee will be severed. The decision to downlist the manatee at a time when they are dying in record numbers and need more protections rather than less is based not on science, but on the politics of greed. The species stands in the way of moneyed interests who will do whatever they can to push them aside so that development can proceed at the expense of innocent creatures' lives. What You Can Do Contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and politely urge this federal agency not to downlist the Florida manatee. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
The Florida manatee is in danger of losing its protections as a federal endangered species under a new plan being prepared by the Bush administration, according to an internal document released by the