 |  | ||||
|
Tuesday, May 20, 2003 Bluster from boating minority |
|
The facts are simple. Too many boats are crowding onto Florida´s waterways, and manatees are dying in record numbers. A federal report released at the end of April predicts that long-term efforts to save the manatee are doomed without additional protections.
Nobody´s suggesting banning boats. But they must slow down, especially in areas where manatees have already been injured or killed by collisions with watercraft. Many of the recent deaths have occurred along the Tomoka and Halifax rivers in Volusia County, and federal officials were in town last week asking for input on several new low-speed zones proposed for the river.
The officials´ appearance wasn´t exactly voluntary. Unfortunately, the current administration of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been dilatory about protecting manatees, to the point where a federal judge threatened to hold the agency in contempt. The new low-speed zones were promised by the department almost three years ago. That hasn´t stopped pro-boating groups such as Standing Watch from trying to derail them even now.
Their intentions came through loud and clear at last week´s public hearings on the proposed boat-speed rules, which also include limits in zones on the St. Johns River in Duval County and the Caloosahatchee River in southwest Florida. These rules are needed -- in fact, their chief flaw is that they aren´t strong enough. Despite that, anti-manatee activists from Standing Watch and other “boaters´ rights” groups booed and shouted down manatee advocates attempting to speak during the hearings.
It´s important to note that -- while these groups purport to speak for the hundreds of thousands of registered boat owners in the state -- independent surveys show that most Floridians (including boat owners) support speed limit enforcement and other efforts to save sea cows. That raises the question of who these groups are really speaking for.
And who is listening. State wildlife officials and lawmakers aren´t doing much better than the federal government at protecting manatees lately. Politics is winning over science in Florida: Later this month, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is scheduled to consider lowering the manatee´s legal status from endangered to threatened despite the fact that fewer than 4,000 of the marine mammals exist. (The move won´t change the manatee´s federal status, which remains endangered.)
Manatees are in danger of disappearing from Florida, and the vast majority of this state´s residents don´t want that to happen. To save the manatee, both federal and state leaders must separate the noise from the facts, and make sure the species is protected in the wild, whatever the label put on their status.
Copyright © 2008 NIE WORLD (www.nieworld.com). All content copyrighted and may not be republished without permission. The News-Journal has no control over and is not responsible for content on other Web sites. Privacy Policy. |