"Slow zones"? Not just slow zones - no entry zones.
Banning docks? How do you intend to get onto the boat so you can go diving? Without a dock you're going to have some trouble getting on board, are you not? And the boat's owner will have some trouble having a place to keep said boat, thus, he won't - and you won't be doing any diving.
Finally, you claim that "go slow" zones are not a problem. Where they are warranted they may indeed make sense. However, the current demands from the $MC include "go slow" zones in places where no manatee has been struck or injured in several years, and we're not talking about small sections of waterway either. In the entirety of Lee County, for example, the average transit time addition from open water to the dock, ONE WAY, is about one hour.
Adding two hours to a dive boat's trip time will make that business non-viable - you will not have any commercial dive boats to board and dive from if this insanity is not stopped, as you will essentially destroy the ability of the operators of these vessels to make a profit running these trips.
The $MC's officers have in fact said that their goal is to get rid of all vessels from coastal waters. For commercial operators, they do not need to ban the boats. All they need to do is make it completely uneconomic for them to operate.
That would include essentially all waters in which you dive in South Florida.
This is not a matter of some "Type A" personality stuff as you claim.
Let's look at some FACTS, shall we?
First, Manatees are not endangered at present. Why can I say this? Because their population (as measured by the very people trying to ban the boats) have TRIPLED in the last 30 years. A species that has had its population TRIPLE is not in danger of extinction. It is recovering.
Second, under the MMPA, (Marine Mammal Protection Act) any act that modifies the behavior of such an animal is a "take" and is unlawful. This is why you cannot feed dolphins. However, the $MC is presently taking legal action to continue the warm water discharges at the Lee County FPL plant - an action that absolutely modifies the behavior of Manatees (which would otherwise depart the area in the winter, as the water gets too cold for them.) This is a "take", yet the $MC is attempting to CAUSE "takes" - all to keep Manatees in Lee County through the winter months, when they would not normally be there.
Why would they want that to happen? More 'tees in that area means more to be hit by boats and more red tide, which kills not only Manatees but also fish and other sea flora and fauna. It also makes the need for the "slow zones" year-round, instead of having the need (the 'tees) depart in the fall and winter, and thus the zones would be seasonal rather than year-round. The more 'tees that are hit and die, the more they can scream about how horrible boaters are. Never mind that they are creating the conditions that endanger these animals, and that warm-water discharge is an internationally-recognized environmental disaster.
Why? Simply so they have a cause and can continue to work on banning vessels and development on and around coastal waters, not to mention insuring they continue to be paid their salaries.
I want a biologically diverse ecosystem. I want Manatees to prosper. But I want them to do so in a responsible, ecologically-sound manner. Causing them to concentrate in an area and eating the seagrass beds down to the sand doesn't do that. It instead severely damages the fish population, which depends on the cover of that seagrass for the fry to have a chance of survival. Yet the 'tees eat the seagrass.......
Fact is that Buffett, along with Bob Graham, founded the $MC. In the 70s, they had a point, just like NOW had a point in the 1960s. However, now they not only do not have a point, they are engaged in actions that actually damage those who they claim to be protecting, along with doing harm to others at the same time.
That people are misinformed and contribute to the $MC in the mistaken view that they are "helping Manatees" is one thing.
For a diver to contribute to them, directly or indirectly, once informed, is another matter entirely.
These people seek to ban the sport we all love and engage in via both direct and indirect means, through making it economically or entirely (regardless of cost) impossible to dock and operate a boat in coastal waters in the State of Florida anywhere south of roughly Steinhatchee on the west coast, and up the entire east cost to Jacksonville.
I do not live in a part of the state affected by their madness; I have no horse in this race. However, those who DO live there, or who DO dive there, most certainly do have a horse in this race, and for them to provide aid and comfort to these folks is equivalent to commiting treason against all who enjoy the underwater world.
