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A Times Editorial
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 27, 2001
If manatees really are his "favorite mammal," as Gov. Jeb Bush declared in July 2000, here are a couple of suggestions for how he can prove it.
First, he could use his influence to persuade the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to stop acting as a shill for the marine industry's self-absorbed campaign to prove that manatees are only a threatened, not endangered, species.
Then, the governor could bend the ear of his brother, President Bush, whose U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is inching closer to a similar ill-advised position.
The state commission decided last month to conduct a study to determine whether the manatee population has rebounded sufficiently to lift the blanket of legal protection that has covered the sea mammals since they were declared endangered 30 years ago. Almost simultaneously, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released criteria for accomplishing the same downgrade at the federal level.
It is incredible that the state and federal governments are seriously embarking upon such a short-sighted course. About all either agency knows for certain is that the manatee population in Florida waters has reached a record of approximately 3,275. Most reasonable people know that slow-speed restrictions placed on boaters, and the establishment of sanctuaries where the gentle creatures can retreat, are responsible for the resurgence.
But, even with those protections in place, there is another alarming certainty; more manatees than ever were killed by watercraft last year.
The Coastal Conservation Association, a private group with more than 10,000 members, has pushed the state to undertake this study. The group's members are mostly recreational fishermen, but its agenda is heavily influenced by the commercial fishing and boating industries. The CCA has used hyperbole to scare recreational boaters into fearing that environmentalists want to ban them from many of the state's waterways.
In its petition to the state, the CCA used last year's record manatee count to bolster its plea for the study. From the outset, that is a faulty premise. Several years will be needed to establish a baseline for a true reading on the manatee population. For example, there should be some way to determine how many of the manatees counted are adults that survive from year to year, and not just calves that have matured, replacing adults that died.
Save the Manatee and other organizations dedicated to protecting the lumbering sea cows have lobbied diligently for more federal sanctuaries, and enforcement of the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act. Those efforts have been necessary and appreciated by just about everyone, except for boaters who still haven't grasped the concepts that speed kills and that the state waterways do not exist exclusively for humans' pleasure.
The formula for propagating the species is simple; protect the manatees, and they will flourish. These studies, without proper implementation, oversight and analysis, threaten to alter that cycle virtually overnight. What a sad end that would be to 30 years of progress -- and one of the governor's favorites.