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ADRIENNE LUEnvironmentalists and boaters are divided over the proposed expansion of slow speed zones.
Ray Markham, a Manatee County fishing guide who grew up in St. Petersburg, says he likes manatees as much as the next guy.
But recommendations by the staff of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to impose broad new manatee safety zones throughout the Tampa Bay region have the skipper steaming.
"I think they're unnecessary," said Markham, who runs a 16-foot flats skiff out on four- and six-hour fishing trips. "If you have to idle for a mile or two to some place, and then a mile or two out at 1 to 3 miles per hour, you're looking at spending an hour and a half to two hours of idling to get to where you want to fish."
But advocates of the proposed safety zones say the sea cows need as much help as they can get.
Patti Thompson, director of science and conservation with the Save the Manatee Club, thinks the proposed rules don't go far enough. She said five manatees have been killed by watercraft in the Tampa Bay area since February. "That's an indication that something alarming is going on," Thompson said.
Both sides will have about two months to debate the issue before a review committee, intended to allow for local input, responds to the staff recommendations. After that, the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission can adopt, reject or amend as many of the recommendations as it wishes.
The proposed zones are the result of a legal settlement with environmental groups in 2001, in which the state agreed, among other things, to consider new protections for manatees in the Tampa Bay area. On Tuesday, the local committee, which represents a broad range of interests, including boaters, environmentalists and fishermen, will discuss the zones proposed for Hillsborough County. On Aug. 12, the committee will discuss Pinellas County, and on Aug. 19, Manatee County. A public forum is set for Aug. 26; the committee plans a final meeting on Aug. 27. All the meetings will be from 4 to 7 p.m. except the public forum, which will be from 6 to 8 p.m. All the meetings will be at the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council at 9455 Koger Blvd., Suite 219, in St. Petersburg.
David Arnold, chief of protected species management for the state commission, said the protections proposed for the Tampa Bay area are similar to those in place in other parts of the state. But the new zones would greatly expand the areas where boaters would have to travel at slow speeds.
Just how well manatees are doing is a touchy subject. Though the mammals are still an endangered species, the two sides of the protection zone debate argue fiercely about how to interpret the numbers.
Ted Forsgren, executive director of the Coastal Conservation Association of Florida, a saltwater recreational fishermen's group, said state surveys show the manatee population in the Tampa Bay region has increased significantly over the past 10 years. He feels the manatee population is in fine shape, and that many of the proposed changes would unduly hamper fishermen and boaters.
"The population is rising by leaps and bounds, and maybe we would need a few adjustments here and there, but instead they have sweeping proposals to put thousands of acres of speed zones all around the bay," Forsgren said. "I was just shocked by the magnitude of what they were proposing."
But Thompson, of the Save the Manatee Club, said the state surveys are not a good indicator of overall population trends because they show only the number of manatees that were spotted by surveyors each year, and are largely dependent on weather conditions. Thompson said the survey figures have been widely discounted by scientists. She said a more accurate method of determining the manatee population, which involves identifying individual manatees, indicates the manatee population in southwest Florida has decreased by more than 1 percent over the past eight years.
She also said the number of boat-related manatee deaths has increased.
Scott Calleson, a biologist with the wildlife commission, said that from 1988 to 1992, nine of 41 manatee deaths recorded by the state were attributed to boats, or about 22 percent. From 1993 to 1997, 14 of 68 manatee deaths were related to boats, or 21 percent. From 1998 to January, 27 of 90 manatee deaths were attributed to boats, or 30 percent.
Markham fears the zones would have a drastic impact on the fishing and boating industries in Tampa Bay. Although Markham has other jobs, he said many others would likely go out of business.
"I love the manatees and I don't want to see them hurt," Markham said, "But what they're trying to do is just ludicrous."
If you goA local review committee, which represents a broad range of interests including boaters, environmentalists and fishermen, will discuss the proposed manatee zones at a series of meetings:
Hillsborough County: Tuesday
Pinellas County: Aug. 12
Manatee County: Aug. 19
Public forum: Aug. 26
Final meeting: Aug. 27
- All the meetings will be from 4 to 7 p.m. except the public forum, which will be from 6 to 8 p.m., at the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council at 9455 Koger Blvd., Suite 219, in St. Petersburg.