Just as the summer boating season kicks into gear, Florida's manatees have won a reprieve of sorts as state wildlife officials wisely delayed until November a decision on whether the sea cows are still an endangered species.
The latest count puts the state's manatee herd at about 3,000. Since there is no magic number for when a species is truly endangered or merely threatened with extinction, the state must decide if the rebounding numbers mean manatees no longer need strict protection or whether their recovery, and continued existence, depends on keeping the safeguards in place.
Boating and marine industry agents want the government to ease up on speed zone and dock-building restrictions. Environmentalists say those restrictions are why the sea cows are having a comeback.
State and federal wildlife agencies are awash these days in scientific, and often contradictory, studies of the manatees' plight. One recent report by a federal researcher, however, is getting close attention. The report's computer model shows that along the Atlantic coast and in southwest Florida, the danger to manatees is so severe that there is no chance for the species to rebound from its endangered status within 100 years.
Based on that report, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service earlier this month scuttled new rules that had angered boaters, builders, manatee advocates and even Gov. Jeb Bush. The rules would have limited docks, marinas and boat ramps from Pasco County to the southern tip of the state, leading business groups and the governor to predict economic disaster.
Environmentalists howled at the rules' "incidental take" provision, which allowed some manatees to be killed because losing a few sea cows would not irrevocably harm the species.
Federal officials will still review dock applications while working closer with local and state agencies to enforce boat speeds, improve manatee protection signs and educate boaters.
State officials reacted to the computer model's findings by putting off the vote on changing the manatees' protective status until more research can be done.
The recent steps by the wildlife agencies have shown that they are willing to be reasonable and to listen to all sides in this emotional debate.
The agencies, however, must not retreat from their primary obligation to protect this species. The recent report on the "dire" status of the manatees in Florida is further proof that the alternative is unacceptable.
