 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Manatee hearing has little debate
By BARBARA BEHRENDT, Times Staff Writer LECANTO -- Elsewhere in Florida, the simple mention of new water-use restrictions to protect manatees generates emotional debate. The issue once inspired the same response in Citrus County, where in heated, crowded public meetings boaters faced off against environmentalists and dive shops battled animal rights groups. But if Wednesday's public hearing on the manatee safe havens proposed by the state at the Homosassa Blue Waters was any indication, Citrus has mellowed. Only a handful of people attended the session, and all but one spoke in favor of new restrictions in the Blue Waters. The restrictions would provide private space for the endangered animals on cold winter mornings. "It was the shortest hearing we've held," environmental specialist Scott Calleson said. He said the public comments on the Blue Waters proposal have been weighted in favor of creating restrictions there. Part of that might be because the area has been studied for years, and most parties agree something needs to be done there. But Calleson also said it could be that residents in Citrus, unlike those elsewhere in Florida, have lived with and thrived on existing manatee regulations for years. Kings Bay has several large federal manatee sanctuaries, and Citrus rivers have year-round and seasonal speed restrictions to help the endangered manatees. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has proposed creation of two manatee protection areas at the Blue Waters. Those areas would be closed to all boating, swimming and fishing activity Nov. 15 through March 31 annually. The Blue Waters have become an area of increasing importance to both manatees and local dive businesses. Manatee numbers have been steadily increasing there as has commercial interest in manatee encounter excursions to the spot. But some in the audience Wednesday complained that a few commercial boat operators are more interested in getting good videos of their customers and manatees than they are in protecting the slow-moving herbivores. "I'm not impressed with their policing of their divers. They're more concerned about procuring videos," said David Samek, a Rainbow River area resident who frequently snorkels in the Homosassa Blue Waters. On those trips, he said, he has frequently seen people in the water with the animals poking at the sleeping manatees and trying to feed them. Samek argued that, as in other places, officials would soon need to decide the true carrying capacity of the Blue Waters. While only a dive shop or two knew about the spot a decade ago, now he has seen as many as six at one time dumping up to 60 people in the water with resting manatees. "It's unmanageable," he said. "It's beyond the capacity it can handle now." Sharon Karsen, a volunteer with the Manatee Watch program, related similar observations of diver behavior. She said once she and her husband saw a group of people harassing manatees by chasing them around the Blue Waters. When they finally got close enough to talk to the group, she found one of the dive shop video camera operators was in the middle of the group. He finally called his customers off when he saw the volunteers. Calling for the closed areas and additional help in the form of more education and more law enforcement, Karsen also related a scene she witnessed as this winter's manatee season drew to a close. Near the Blue Waters she saw some children cavorting in the water with manatees, chasing them with help from their parents who were on a boat and even standing on the animals. "The parents had no idea they were doing anything wrong," Karsen said. "I approached all the parents and tried to explain to them. . . . but they didn't have a clue." Patti Thompson and Helen Spivey of Save the Manatee Club and the Sierra Club also spoke in favor of establishing the closed zones. So did Isabel Spindler, a local animal rights activist. "There are just too many people and too many boats," she said. Only Amy Scott, representing the Save our Sandbar movement from New Port Richey, urged the state to provide scientific proof that manatees need new protections in the area. Affiliated with the boaters-rights group called Standing Watch, Scott argued "this is a boaters issue, a property value issue." "We're fortunate in that this is one area that has been studied a lot," said Kipp Frohlich, biological administrator for the commission's Bureau of Protected Species. Aerial surveys, studies by the Sirenia Project and a detailed look at swimmer and manatee interactions by Mote Marine have all been conducted in the area. "We have a lot of information about when manatees are in the Blue Waters, their increasing numbers," Frohlich said. Written public comment will be accepted on the proposal up through the final hearing and decision by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Sept. 12. Meanwhile, officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which administers the federal manatee sanctuaries in Kings Bay and surrounding canals, may also weigh in soon on sanctuaries at the Blue Waters. Both state and federal agencies were sued by environmental groups over their lack of action on establishing manatee protections around the state. Both agencies settled their suits by promising new protections, but federal officials took a step back and let the state act first on some spots like the Blue Waters.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
Citrus Times |
