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Thursday, November 20, 2003

Manatee stays in danger for now

DINAH VOYLES PULVER | News-Journal Environment Writer

DUCK KEY — The Florida manatee remains an endangered species as state wildlife officials Wednesday delayed a vote on changing its level of protection until at least next November.

The decision will be delayed until the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reviews and adopts new criteria for its protected species listing program, which has come under fire from critics.

“We have seen that there are opportunities to improve our process,” said Commissioner John Rood of Jacksonville. “If the opportunities are significant enough that they are going to affect the outcomes, then it only makes sense to modify the process.”

Meanwhile, the commission staff will plan a strategy with objectives for measuring results in its manatee program and recovery progress. The proposed downlisting was one of several manatee issues that took up most of the commission´s time Wednesday. The commission is considering new rules in its manatee program and new boat speed limits in several counties in Florida.

The commission´s staff and a panel of scientists had concluded, in a review of the manatee´s biological status, that the water mammal could be moved down from endangered to threatened. But other scientists questioned those conclusions.

Part of the debate stems from the commission´s protected species listing criteria, which parallels the International Conservation Union´s criteria in some respects but lacks updates and modifications made to the international listing.

An appointed panel reviewed the state and international programs and recommended the state adopt a set of regional guidelines and other language used by the international union. However, the state panel could not agree whether the names of the state categories, such as endangered and threatened, should be changed or realigned. Members were far apart on the issue.

The commission agreed Wednesday to have its staff study the panel´s conclusions, work on the listing criteria and make recommendations in April. Once the commission adopts new criteria, it will take several months to move through the required rule-making process. Until that process is complete, commissioners said they do not want other species added to or removed from the protected list unless it´s an emergency.

The review was prompted by a 2001 request from the Coastal Conservation Association. Ted Forsgren, the association´s executive director, said Wednesday that he is OK with the delay because his saltwater fishing group already has accomplished part of its reason for asking for the review: getting a hard, scientific look at manatee populations statewide.

John Sprague, government relations chairman for the Marine Industries Association of Florida, agreed, “What we need is science, and we can try and get this thing resolved.”

Environmentalists applauded the commission for the delay, saying the population is by no means secure, with too many deaths still attributed to watercraft-related accidents, cold weather and natural disasters such as red tide.

More important, said Pat Rose with the Save the Manatee Club, it gives the various interest groups time to continue working toward compromise on some of the more controversial issues.

“We´re making some headway,” Rose said. “What you´ve really done is given us more time for all of the parties to come up with some solutions, instead of fighting over what you call something.”

“We have got to get to a point on this issue where we’re not being challenged in court,” said Commissioner Herky Huffman, an Enterprise resident. “We´ve got to get to consensus in the scientific community.”

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