State: Buffett takes manatee plea to Bush

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Buffett takes manatee plea to Bush

The singer tells the governor the state must act to save manatees or "One day we'll wake up and it will be too late."

By JULIE HAUSERMAN

TALLAHASSEE -- He usually sings about cold beer and balmy beaches, but Wednesday, homegrown troubadour Jimmy Buffett brought a serious message to Gov. Jeb Bush at the Capitol: Florida needs to do more to protect endangered manatees.

"Things are not looking as well in manatee land as one might think," said Buffett, who made the Florida Keys famous with his song Margaritaville. "One day we'll wake up and it will be too late."

Buffett is chairman of the Save the Manatee Club. The group's director, Pat Rose, said lawmakers this year raided the Manatee Protection Trust Fund, money that's set aside when people buy specialty manatee license plates. Rose said lawmakers took $500,000 from the fund to pay for unspecified projects at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo and another $395,000 for an educational facility in Fort Pierce. Those two projects, Rose said, will wipe out the trust fund, which pays for state manatee research, including scientific work at the Florida Marine Research Institute in St. Petersburg.

"We'd like to see (Gov. Bush) exercise a line item veto on those two things," Rose said. "If they are funded, there wouldn't be any money left for a (manatee) emergency, if it arose."

The number of manatees killed by boats is increasing in Volusia, Collier, Brevard, Duval and Lee counties, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

"The mortality rates are way beyond what they should be," Buffett said. "It doesn't bode well for Florida. It's a population issue, basically."

During the past two gubernatorial campaigns, Buffett supported Bush's Democratic opponents, Lawton Chiles and Buddy MacKay. At a concert for MacKay, Buffett changed the words in his Margaritaville song from "It's my own damn fault" to "It's all Jeb's fault."

After Wednesday's meeting with the GOP governor, Buffett said: "I like the new governor. After the wars of the campaign, I think it's time to move on."

Buffett said he found Bush to be "surprisingly receptive to environmental policy" and "very, very up on manatee issues." He also said the governor has "a great sense of humor."

Buffett traveled to Tallahassee after visiting his mother in Alabama. Tomorrow, it's off to South Carolina, where he'll play a concert in Charleston.

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