Fw: Help End Manatee Harassment!

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Help End Manatee Harassment in Citrus County, Florida

Save the Manatee Club

 

Help End Manatee Harassment

in Citrus County, Florida!

Videos show people grabbing,

walking on, and riding manatees

 

Each winter, 80,000 - 100,000 people visit the Crystal River National

Wildlife Refuge to snorkel and dive with endangered manatees, and thousands

more go to swim with manatees in the Blue Waters area of the Homosassa

River.

 

Inevitably, many of these visitors want to touch the manatees or interact

with them in some way. Manatees are protected under the Endangered Species

Act, so grabbing them, feeding, surrounding, or chasing them can be

considered harassment and is therefore illegal. But local, state, and

federal law enforcement officers are limited in numbers and unable to

adequately monitor the area, so there are many incidents of manatee

harassment each year.

 

Recently, a video shot at the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge shows

people grabbing, walking on, and riding manatees. And the St. Petersburg

Times has featured several news articles documenting the manatee harassment

in this area (see more articles and video below).

 

Manatee Abuse Caught on Tape

Read an article in the St. Petersburg Times

See the video mentioned in the article

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/02/11/Citrus/Manatee_abuse_caught_.shtml

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iDC2kM1ca_A

 

Manatees need these wildlife refuges for survival in the winter. When people

try to touch or pursue manatees, they can alter the manatee's behavior in

the wild, perhaps causing them to leave a warm water area, which makes them

susceptible to potential harm. Also, people can inadvertently separate a

mother and calf by trying to touch manatees. Manatee calves depend on the

care of their mothers for up to two years, so a calf that is separated from

his or her mother could ultimately die without her.

 

 

What You Can Do:

 

Citrus County, where both the refuge and Blue Waters area are located, is

the only place in Florida where swimming with manatees is allowed. The U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) grants special use permits to tour

businesses that operate in waters around the refuge, and the Florida Fish

and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) allows public access to part of

the Blue Waters area, even when seasonal no-entry zones are in effect.

 

The USFWS is currently working on a new comprehensive management plan for

the refuge, and the FWC executive director has promised that the recent

harassment incident will be investigated.

 

Please write to staff at both of these agencies and let them know your

thoughts on the issue. In addition, ask them to

 

 

Protect the manatees in the refuge and Blue Waters area by expanding the

no-entry sanctuary areas.

Limit the number of people allowed near the sanctuary areas in the winter,

unless harassment stops.

Adopt a strict " no touch " policy when it comes to manatees in ALL areas of

Florida.

Require educational training for all those who may dive at these areas in

the winter.

Hold tour operators responsible for the actions of their customers and

impose fines for those who don't monitor their customers.

Strengthen law enforcement efforts in the areas or create a better

monitoring system and prosecute appropriately those people who violate the

rules.

 

 

Send an e-mail to: (copy and paste into your e-mail message)

chassahowitzka, kenneth.haddad, southeast

 

Your e-mail will be going to:

James Kraus, Refuge Manager,

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge

 

Ken Haddad, Executive Director,

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

 

Sam Hamilton, Regional Director,

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Southeast Region

 

Suggested subject line: Please Stop Manatee Harassment

 

Please forward this e-mail to as many people as you can.

 

Thank you for your help on this important issue for manatees!

 

 

Additional Contact Information:

 

James Kraus, Refuge Manager

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Complex

1502 S.E. Kings Bay Drive

Crystal River, FL 34429

E-mail: chassahowitzka

 

Ken Haddad, Executive Director

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

620 South Meridian Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600

E-mail: kenneth.haddad

 

Sam Hamilton, Regional Director

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Regional Headquarters

1875 Century Blvd., Suite 400

Atlanta, GA 30345

E-mail: southeast

 

 

If You Would Like To Do More To Help:

 

1. Contact U.S. Senators Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez from Florida and urge

them to restore personnel funding for refuge staff and research at the

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge.

2. Urge your U.S. Representatives to sign onto a letter to the House

Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, urging them to

increase funding for the National Wildlife Refuge System. The deadline for

this action is March 13th! Go to the Refuge Action Network to find out if

your representative has signed on and to send an instant letter.

 

3. Send a letter to the St. Petersburg Times and let them know how much you

appreciate the superb job they have done in reporting on this and other

important manatee issues. (Unless they hear from enough people, they are

likely to close the paper's Citrus County Bureau, and we are concerned that

manatee stories won't get the coverage they need.)