Fw: Ask for Stronger Manatee Plan

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Ask State Agency to Make Manatee Management Plan StrongerSave the

Manatee Club

Ask for Stronger Manatee Plan

Urge Revision of Imperiled Species Listing/Delisting Rule

 

http://www.savethemanatee.org/actionalert.cfm?id=15

 

When the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) adopted new

imperiled species listing/delisting criteria, they incorporated the

international criteria for " endangered, " but they elected to call those

species that met the endangered criteria " threatened " instead of

" endangered. " As a result, the FWCC voted to downlist manatees to

" threatened " status. We are highly critical of this move, as are a host of

other environmental organizations and eminent scientists.

 

Now, the FWCC has drafted a Manatee Management Plan (Plan), which is the

final step in the species' reclassification from " endangered " to

" threatened. " However, the current Plan will not ensure adequate protection

for manatees and, together with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's recent

recommendation to also downlist manatees at the federal level, the Plan will

greatly hamper our chance of securing the manatee's future in the face of

increasing human-related threats.

 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recommended downlisting the manatee

due to political pressure. An April editorial in The Bradenton Herald said,

" The declassification is not being made because the manatee has made a

'landmark' recovery, as the USFWS' field supervisor asserted. Rather, it is

a concession to the boat, dock-building and development interests that have

lobbied for relaxing manatee protection rules for years. In the

anti-environment posture of the Bush administration facing term limits, it

has finally found a friendly reception. "

 

The two greatest threats to the manatee's long-term survival are:

A growing number of boats on Florida's already

dangerous waters

 

 

The probable future loss of both natural and

artificial warm water habitat.

 

Ironically, because of these threats, both the state and federal governments

are projecting substantial to catastrophic decline in the manatee population

unless strong new protections are implemented.

 

What You Can Do:

Act Now! Click on the link below to send a quick and easy online letter to

FWCC Executive Director Ken Haddad and Florida Governor Charlie Crist,

asking them to revise Florida's imperiled species listing/delisting rule and

to retain the manatee's current " endangered " status. In addition, the letter

asks them to make the Manatee Management Plan much stronger.

 

http://www.savethemanatee.org/actionalert.cfm?id=15

 

 

The formal comment period for the Management Plan is from May 7 - June 14.

Please send the letter immediately and ask your family and friends to do the

same.

 

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