Manatee Debate?

[ERIC.K]

Recently concluded a trip swimming with the manatees at Crystal river over the Martin Luther King weekend, We were told that this is the busiest weekend and it showed, The weekend was also Crystal Rivers manatee festival so the city was extra busy. That weekend the local paper ran a story that included pictures of maybe 12 snorklers surrounding a lone manatee. I have always supported my privelege to interact with the peaceful manatee but let me tell you, The anti-manatee groups will gain alot ground when pictures like the one in the local paper are ran. Apparently in the Crystal river and Homassasa area a debate is raging between the dive shops and Pro-manatee groups who want to end these interactions.
My questions are 1.) if there exist strong opposition to manatee interaction, why did Florida so overwhelmingly vote to remove the manatee from the endangered list? I was told that two different groups reside over the issue, Florida game and wildlife and the? 2.) if manatee interaction is becomming harmful to manatees, could Florida limit the amount of participants a dive shop is allowed to take out? maybe initiate a program where individuals who want these interactions simply buy a license, like a manatee interaction license? and limit the number of people who can interact with them like 10,000 licences a year. and 3.) of the 9 times or so i've traveled to Crystal River I would like someone to tell me how I could possibly harass a 1200lbs animal that just rolled over on his back for me to scratch. I've been around alot of manatees and when they are done with me they just swim away....Like a trident submarine

 

[Puffer Fish]

Well,

1. Endangered is not supposed to be based on how neat looking something is, but on the size and health of the population.

2. They could..or they could just put a maximum limit per day. The trouble is, based on current information, it has no effect on the population.

3. The primary issue, is does a lot of people in the water "effect" them.....in a bad way? Are you doing some sort of mental damage to them? Do they have nightmares? Does it effect how "wild" they are. Do they not want to mate and raise little ones?

I believe the issue is one of belief, not of facts, and on that, there were always be some that want them left completely alone. Sort of like not feeding the bears (except there are very hard reasons for that).

I don't have a clue if swimming with one is good or bad, but I can imagine that either one is possible. But as long as it is being done, there will be groups that will not like it.

 

[webhead]

Didn't Florida pass a law prohibiting the touching or interaction of marine animals? I've heard from a few divers that it is illegal to harass turtles and puffer fish and to feed sharks. Always thought this was a general law covering all animals in the water.

To true that if one person does something, you can find another who is against it.

 

[fast5frog]

I'm sure these great animals have a hard time with the attention. I would sure hate someone rubbing my belly if I was them As long as these creatures are not being harassed and it's not putting an emotional strain on them screw the tree-huggers...I am all for conservation and make my donations regularly to various groups, but if they are really bothered would they return every single year and with their young? I would move if I was being harassed by anyone, and I'm sure they are not just a simple minded animal that simply goes through the motions of retutrning year round "'cause thats what they gotta do" I say enjoy them the way they seem to enjoy the attention!

 

[thomjinx]

I have dived with manatees before, and in my opinion, divers and snorkelers aren't a danger to them.....fast moving boats are.

A manatee surrounded by a group of divers is less likely to be run over by a boat. If he wants to leave the area and go somewhere else, the divers certainly won't (couldn't!) stop him from doing that.

Just my 2 psi
Thomjinx

 

[427Dave]

Didn't Florida pass a law prohibiting the touching or interaction of marine animals? I've heard from a few divers that it is illegal to harass turtles and puffer fish and to feed sharks. Always thought this was a general law covering all animals in the water.

To true that if one person does something, you can find another who is against it.

I just came back from Crystal River this week. Florida does have laws regarding the protection of marine mammals. There are also Federal LAws.

"It is unlawful for any person, at any time, by any means, intentionally or negligently, to annoy, molest, harass, or distrub any manatee." "The marine mammal protection act of 1972 and the endangered species act of 1973 make it illegle to harass, capture, or kill any marine mammal-including the mnanatee." These statements are directly from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service papers handed out when going to Crystal River. They also have protected areas that are roped off and no one is allowed to enter these areas.

What they tell you is do NOT approach a manatee, if they wish to be petted or scratched, they will come directly to you. When we were there a few did come directly to us, we did not have to move, we just stood there. They are really neat docile animals. Feeding them is also illegle.

 

[catcarouser]

I see most of the forum posts about manatees come from non-Floridians, so I thought a little primer might be useful.

The manatee is listed as "endangered" by the Feds. There was no research or evaluation performed to reach this conclusion. When the Endangered Species Act was legislated, the Fish & Wildlife Service staff called their counterparts in state agencies and said, "what do you want on the list?" Florida -- to its ever-lasting regret -- said "manatees." No kidding, that's how it started.

The manatee also is listed under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and that's the one that really causes all the grief, as it prohibits ANY take whatsoever. "Take" means everything from killing to injuring to annoying -- or potentially even interfering. The day may come when a suit is filed claiming that the noise from a boat that causes a manatee to move out of harm's way constitutes "harassment."

The manatee is also a listed species on the Florida list of imperiled species, and is protected by the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act.

Florida is in the process of "downlisting" the manatee from endangered to threatened status. This likely will be done by June, 2007.

Despite anything you've read or heard, the Florida review is the most comprehensive review of the manatee's status ever conducted, and the results of the review have been extensively peer-reviewed.

On the international level, the manatee is considered by the IUCN to be "vulnerable," which is like "threatened lite", or what Florida terms a "species of special concern." So, in fact, what Florida is proposing to call the manatee -- threatened -- is in fact a more significant listing than what the rest of the world scientific community calls it.

Got that?

Now comes the stupidity.

Remember that no study was ever done saying the manatee should be called endangered? Likewise, no study was ever done saying that fast boats are an extinction threat, and that slow speeds will prevent manatee/boat strike fatalities.

Repeat, no study has ever been done.

Last year, Florida wildlife officials finally conceded that they DO NOT KNOW if slow speed works. Furthermore, a study underway at the state necropsy lab, using new forensic tools, indicates that BIG boats -- over 40 feet long -- account for two out of three manatees killed by propellers (that's about half of all boat strike deaths).

In Florida, 2% of boats are over 40 feet in length. There's no forensics to tell what type of vessel kills by impact alone, but I, personally, see no reason to assume that the ratio will be any different.

Think about that for a second: 2% of vessels cause 66% of deaths!

What is a characteristic of big boats operating in manatee waters -- that is, waters close to shore? They tend to be traveling SLOWLY, because most Florida water is SHALLOW and MURKY. The sheer size of these vessels, their drafts, and science phenomena like the mirror effect and the bernoulli effect -- and basic science like Newton's Second Law -- account for these results. Plus the fact that BIG boats are often commercial vessels, often moving fuel to and from power plants, and they are on the water every day of the year.

This, of course, is the opposite of what you've been hearing/reading -- that small fast boats are killers. In fact, the odds that manatee deaths caused by small fast boats are in ANY WAY an extinction factor is nil. That's not to say go ahead and aim for the swirl. That's simply to say that the reason for preventing/reducing strikes is NOT because boats will otherwise drive manatees to extinction.

So let's talk divers for a moment. You can expect to see an end to almost all manatee diving within five years, because of yahoos like that group of 12 photographed encircling a manatee.

Understand that here in Florida, manatees are common. Repeat, common. If you live along the shore, you see 'em all the time. Folks from out of state come here thinking manatees are as rare as unicorns. And, of course, that boats will kill the last ones any day now.

It won't be the wildlife commission, or the federal wildlife service that ban you. It will be the state and federal parks people, and refuge managers. They don't even need to hold a hearing to do it. They can just say the word and shut you out.

The only thing you can do to prevent this is to set up a quota system and raise prices to dive. That'll work for about three years, until enough divers figure out how to get in some other way -- and there's always a way to get in.

Once research finally concludes that fast boats are not a threat, but that human proximity to manatees can drive them from critical habitat -- that's when you'll see places like King's Bay, Blue Springs, and other truly critical areas just plain closed off. And, yes, it's already starting to happen -- do a google on the closure of Blue Springs.

I hope this is useful info.

 

[webhead]

Nice write up. Thanks. Can you add some facts on how manatees came to US waters? Most people don't realize they are not indigenous.

 

[cudachaser]

I like manatee with potatoes and gravy

 

[Blacthorn]

I have very strict personal guildlines of look don't touch in the water. I have to admit that after doing a manatee snorkel in Homosassa Springs it certainly doesn't look to me like having 12 people around a manatee while they scratch and rub it bothers the manatee one bit. Heck it seemed to really be enjoying it, and would swim up to people if for some reason it thought it wasn't getting enough attention. The other manatees in the area just swam away or swam into the no follow zones if they wanted to be left alone. Heck the manatee had the power in the situation anyway. Got kind of pushy at one point when I wasn't scratching enough...lol These animals, in the controlled areas where we are allowed to snorkel with them pretty much have all the choice, which is good and how it should be anyway.

Cudachaser, I don't know I think I perfer a good manatee sandwich with penguin fries....