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CRAIG PITTMANMany of the more than 300 attending decry proposed boating speed zones for Tampa Bay.
PALMETTO - More than 300 people crammed into the Manatee County Civic Center on a rainy Tuesday for a sometimes raucous public hearing on proposed new boat speed zones in Tampa Bay.
Some speakers complained about government interference in recreation and warned that the new zones would interfere with businesses and property rights.
"These proposed changes are ridiculous and don't take into account the economic impact," said David Walker, a fishing guide from Tampa, who drew thunderous applause from much of the crowd.
The zones proposed by biologists from the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are supposed to protect the 350 or so manatees living in Tampa Bay, and the 100 or so more that join them during cold weather.
Since 1974, more than 250 manatees have turned up dead in Tampa Bay, with more than 60 of those deaths from boats. Under a legal settlement with environmental groups two years ago, the wildlife agency has promised to consider new regulations to slow down Tampa Bay's boaters - but has not promised to approve anything.
Generally, the wildlife agency staff has proposed extensive slow-speed zones covering much of Tampa Bay's shoreline that is not already regulated. The state also proposed making some voluntary slow zones - around Fort De Soto and Cockroach Bay - into mandatory slow-speed zones. Where marked channels exist, the state biologists have recommended 25 mph zones for boater access.
Until last year, the staff's recommendation would have gone straight to public hearings and then been voted on by the wildlife commission. But a new law requires all new regulations concerning manatees to be reviewed first by a local committee made up of boaters, environmentalists and other interests.
Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee counties agreed to set up a single panel for all three counties that would be chaired by Nanette Holland of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program. It included representatives from the Save the Manatee Club, which has pushed for greater regulation, as well as the Coastal Conservation Association of Florida, which has petitioned the state to take the manatee off the endangered list.
The committee spent two months wrangling over the proposed zones and so far has voted to recommend that the wildlife commission reject nearly every one of them. In votes that were sometimes sharply split, they repeatedly recommended the state do more to educate boaters, encourage voluntary compliance and defer to county and city regulations.
In one area along the Pinellas shoreline, stretching from the Gandy Bridge to the Courtney Campbell Parkway, the committee was so divided the members were unable to reach any agreement.
The committee wanted to hold a public hearing before its final vote, which is scheduled for today between 4 and 7 p.m. at the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council office in St. Petersburg.
The crowd that showed up Tuesday night was far larger than the committee had expected, Holland said, and so rowdy that at one point she threatened to throw out all the hecklers.
"I may be small, but I am fierce," she told the crowd. She was immediately heckled anyway.
Some speakers complimented the committee for opposing the state's regulation proposals. But some said they were disappointed at the reliance on voluntary compliance and education.
One speaker, Tabitha Whalen, was in charge of Tampa Bay Watch's manatee education program for boaters and said that "in the end we didn't see the boaters behaving any differently."
Most speakers, though, complained that they saw no need to restrict boating at all. Many said they see more manatees today than they did years ago and blasted the Save the Manatee Club for leading the charge for more regulations.
"They're alienating and turning people against the manatee," warned Joe Kennedy, a Manatee County resident.
The state wildlife agency could begin considering the new Tampa Bay rules in November. If approved, they could go into effect in 2004.