Alert: Nws using holiday season to sneak through new manatee swim restrictions

[guyharrisonphoto]

The NWS is using the holiday season, when everyone is distracted, to sneak through significant new restrictions on diving with manatees in Three Sisters Spring at Crystal River, probably the very best of all manatee viewing sites. They are using an little publicized 14 day comment period, instead of the usual mandatory 30 days, to minimize input. Even worse, they are having the 14 days run through the holiday season, when people are distracted and not paying attention, to hope their efforts go unnoticed and unopposed. The last day for comments is Jan 2, for cryiin' out loud!

The major restrictions are as follows:

1. Closure of the vast majority of Three Sisters to any snorkeling, crowding visitors into a tiny area in the center where any interactions will be difficult to impossible and the crowds unmanageably packed together.
2. Limiting hours for diving to 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. This is tantamount to making any interactions almost impossible as it is well known that the manatees leave the springs by or before 10:00 to feed. This is the reason the early morning trips have always been the only ones worthwhile for many years.
3. Eliminating any flash photography. Three sisters has the clearest water and the best backgrounds both above and below the surface, and eliminating fill flash will prohibit serious and responsible photographers from obtaining optimum artistic images. Amazingly, in all the lengthy rationale for the new regulations, there is not one single mention of any observed instance or researched evidence that photography has disturbed the manatees in the slightest. The limit on flash photography is without any explanation whatsoever in the report.

The goal of the regulations is to reduce crowding by swimmers and kayakers (kayaks will be absolutely prohibited in the spring run and springs). While increasing crowds have become a problem, to be sure, it is still a fact that no manatees are harmed by the current regime, The main problem is untrained and thrashing swimmers who cannot control their actions in the water. This can be addressed by limiting the number of people (perhaps permits to boats on a rotating basis with visitors required to go with a licensed operator). However, What is proposed now essentially will make Three Sisters an undesirable and unproductive place for manatee observation and interaction.

PLEASE COMMENT AGAINST THESE EXTREME REGULATIONS

http://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ID=4E987A4B-D732-00AA-BD3DC3124EC181E5

 

[mscott556]

*FWS

I've submitted my comments. This is ridiculous!

 

[Raystafarian]

I was wondering what NWS was, but I submitted my comments.

 

[keller34]

Entered mine as well.

 

[The Chairman]

Please, please, please post your comments here as well. You'll start an online dialog that can't be controlled by those wanting to implement these extreme restrictions. This way you'll get to be heard twice!

 

[Raystafarian]

I'm all about allowing the manatees safe harbor and not scaring them with bubbles, but the proposed map shows that by increasing the density of swimmers and divers to the light blue area will lead to more injuries as well as raise the potential for environmental damage by swimmers/divers because of crowding. Not to mention the (I think) decrease in permitted swimming hours?

 

[geogator]

If they wanted to address the conflict between snorkelers and kayakers within the springs there are other ways to approach it to keep them separated vs. banning kayaks altogether. For instance, you could designate a certain time of day for kayakers only (say mid to late afternoons) when there are fewer snorkelers in the springs anyway. I believe if the FWS had their way they'd close Three Sisters altogether like is currently done at Blue Springs State Park in Volusia County and ban any manatee encounters in all of Kings Bay as well.

If this proposal goes into effect, it's going to put a big dent in the ALL of the businesses that depend on the manatee tourism in Crystal River, not just the tour operators. The fewer people that are able to snorkel (or kayak) equals fewer people staying in the hotels, eating in the restaurants, buying gas and other commodities. Citrus County is a huge retirement area and as such, there's not a lot of other industry to provide employment outside of the service sector so the area is heavily dependent on tourism. I hope that the Citrus County Commission, Crystal River City Council and local Chambers of Commerce are aware of this proposed change and will get involved as well.

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

NetDoc,

Here is the comment I submitted:

I would like to submit my comments regarding the proposed regulations for three sisters. At the outset, I would that I am very disturbed at the way the comment period is handled. First, it is shorter than usual, and, worse, is implemented perfectly to make sure people are not paying attention, or on vacation, or are occupied by the holidays. This gives the appearance that FWS is trying to sneak these rules through in a way that stifles objection or opposing comment, by depriving the people of a real chance to just know about, let alone understand, what is proposed.
As for me, I am long time advanced diver, who has made probably 40-50 trips to swim with the manatees. I am very quiet in the water, always float horizontal on the surface (never stand on the bottom), can maneuver with just a minor movement of my fins, and always follow the guidelines. I photograph with flash, sometimes, as fill light with heavily diffused strobes, or bounced off the white sand bottom. I can say with confidence that I have not disturbed a manatee in any of my trips and my interactions have been voluntary on the manatees’ part—which is why this is so amazing.
Three Sisters is the best spot by far for viewing, interaction and photography. It has the clearest water, great concentrations of manatees, and by far the most beautiful backgrounds both above and below the surface. I fear that the new proposed regulations will basically turn Three Sisters into a site where meaningful interaction and photography is impossible.
I do appreciate the crowding issue, especially with the huge rise in kayak traffic and large groups of snorkelers. No matter my skill and care, I am looked upon the same as thrashing children or people with no control in the water, by “volunteers” who basically are looking for any reason to prohibit manatee interaction for philosophical reasons I do not comprehend. Some operators are so fearful of a mis-step that they prohibit me from using fins!—which by the way makes it more of a stuggle to maneuver, not less. The mindset that human interaction is “dirty” or “harmful” or threatens these animals is ridiculous beyond belief, but it seems to be the mindset of quite a few people. Thankfully, the FWS did not go this far, and has a more realistic view of the benefits of manatee viewing, both for the animals, and for the people.
I do not object to regulation as a knee-jerk reaction to “government” and I have no axe to grind in that regard. Still, I am concerned that the new regulations are too strict. My specific concerns are three-fold.

1. Closure of the vast majority of Three Sisters to any snorkeling. This will crowd visitors into a tiny area in the center where any interactions will be difficult to impossible, and the crowds unmanageably packed together. The thought of dozens of snorkelers in this tiny space is, obviously on its face, not a good idea. The potential for “mobbing” manatees, or for having so much disturbance that they stay away altogether, and for damage to the bottom by those who cannot float, for injury to people, and for making the experience altogether miserable is obvious. Also, cutting off a third of the main spring makes no sense at all. From what I have seen, allowing people to spread out while enforcing the rules of behavior is far less stressful on people and animals alike.

2. Limiting hours for diving to 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. This is tantamount to making any interactions almost impossible as it is well known that the manatees leave the springs by or before 10:00 to feed and only return late in the day. This is the reason the early morning trips have always been the only ones worthwhile for many years.
3. Eliminating any flash photography. Eliminating fill flash will prohibit serious and responsible photographers from obtaining optimum artistic images. Amazingly, in all the lengthy rationale for the new regulations, there is not one single mention of any observed instance or researched evidence that photography has disturbed the manatees in the slightest. The limit on flash photography is without any explanation whatsoever in the report or in real life.
However, I noticed last year that flash was not allowed until after 8:00 am. Although it crimped my style for some sunrise/light ray balanced lighting shots, I thought it was actually a good idea (along with no video lights). By the time the sun is high, no fill flash is going to create any startle or reaction because the overall area is so bright the flash is simply not a big noticeable event.
My respectful suggestions for addressing the crowding:
1. Don’t close the interior of the springs and rely instead on crowd control (more on this below) and enforcing proper behavior.
2. Don’t prohibit the early snorkel trips. This is the best time and nothing can change that.
3. Don’t allow unlimited use. Require all snorkelers to come with a licensed operator, and then rotate permits for different days to the different operators, limiting the number of boats and therefore the number of snorkelers (pick a number, 25 at a time, 50? This would be far fewer than the zoo now seen on weekends). Limit snorkel time to two hours so that, between 6 and 10, two “shifts” of lower numbers can visit.
4. Don’t prohibit all kayaks, but maybe only allow them after 10:00, when there will be far fewer divers, anyway. For kayakers, the viewing is better when the sun is high anyway because they can see better into the water.
5. Keep the current rules on flash photography (only after 8:00) in effect.
As currently proposed, the regulations only succeed in making Three Sisters an undesirable and unproductive place for manatee viewing. I sincerely hope that a better and more effective solution can be found.

 

[jet126]

Just returned from a quickie trip up north. As always I stayed at the Best Western and used Birds. For the first time ever, I went on a busy holiday Friday (Jan 2) for both the 6am and 11am trips. The general answer in Crystal River regarding the proposed changes is “we don’t know but SOMETHING has to be done.”

The 6am tour was a little crowded but pretty much the same as always with two very notable exceptions:

1)Birds no longer allows fins. One of the last hold-outs, they have joined the rest of the tour ops banning fins. If you carry a camera and speak privately to your captain about your skills/qualifications he does have the power to make an exception. (A generous tip also helps). Everyone else is given a noodle and dog-paddles around using their arms. Their rationale is that people are going to kick up the bottom regardless. Better to have them kicking with their feet than with fins. And I did observe a lot of kicking to be sure!

2)You are still able to access all areas of Three Sisters. BUT you have to enter with your guide and leave with your guide. Once inside the spring you don’t have to stay with the group as long as you exit when you’re supposed to. I tried to push it and another guide said “aren’t you with Capt Rick’s group? He’s left so you need to, too.” Alrighty then!

After visiting two other areas with manatee action but not so good viz, we ended the 11am tour at Three Sisters. I could not believe the number of kayaks, canoes, and people all crowded inside the spring. You had to wait your turn to get through the keyhole. You could barely move once inside and forget about trying to get decent shots alone with a manatee. Where there was one manatee there was ALL of the above. I got lucky as there was a baby getting everyone’s attention. I hung back – didn’t even bother trying to get close – and another mom and small calf came by. I followed them to the opposite corner and got a few decent shots but I was still vying for photo time with a man with video camera who kept swimming directly in front of me.


If the 11am tour is any indication of a typical weekend day it’s no wonder FWC is calling for changes. It was a train wreck. But from what I gathered the proposed changes do not really outline how to manage the individual boaters and kayakers who go out on their own. They are cracking down even more on the tour ops (who are already pretty much following the rules) and have not yet figured out a way to crack down on John Q. Public. The call I heard from three different captains was “Changes are needed but change it for everyone – not just the business owners.”


If the changes go through there is a very good chance that they will be put into effect this year – as early as mid-January. At this point it’s still “wait and see.” I will not be making any plans to go again until I know what’s happening. If they do indeed close off big parts of Three Sisters it will not be worth going for photos any more.


All that being said, if you are just going for the experience of swimming with manatees and not worried about postcard perfect shots you can still have a blast. Viz on Friday was not good but the manatee interaction was incredible. They say only 5% of all manatees want anything to do with humans and I’m pretty sure we had 100% of that 5% with us. I even had one swim under me right next to our boat and lift up like he wanted to take me for a ride. Afraid I would get in trouble I tried desperately to get off but he just kept rolling with me. I kept my arms out to the sides, not wanting to touch him. Finally I got free and said to the captain “did you see that?!?” He just laughed and said “Yup, the manatees don’t know the rules!"

 

[The Chairman]

Great trip report. Thanks.