Conservation Front - Manatee Madness

Your Protests Can Stop Manatee Madness

Creepy Crawl extreme slow zones that may ruin countless traditional fishing trips, while not appreciably affecting Florida's manatee population, are scheduled to be imposed by federal bureaucrats in weeks just ahead.

Only a continuing protest can stop the unjustified zones.

Unfortunately, many anglers know little or nothing about the impending putt putt proposals, so it's up to the rest of you to carry the flag of reason and common sense.

What's essential at this point is for boaters to contact as many officials as possible.

On the table for this course of the distasteful manatee menu are three zones to be served by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This is the main entre‚ in a three-year-old lawsuit by animal rights groups who claim that manatees face extinction and that government hasn't done enough to prevent boat-caused mortality.

For dessert, although unseen so far, there are sure to be zone proposals for other parts of the state where circumstances are assuredly similar.

The FWS is accepting public comments until June 2.

The accompanying Florida Sportsman Reader Action Guide gives you contact info for the FWS and other key targets for your messages.

U.S. Rep. Porter Goss, for instance, should hear from all of us since his district includes the Caloosahatchee River where some of the most outlandish proposals would change the face of inshore fishing that generations have enjoyed. Both U.S. senators also should get a mindful.

Indirect but important help is coming from Gov. Jeb Bush and members of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who clearly oppose the federal action and have taken steps to calm the Manatee Wars which have upset the state's angling/boating community for three years.

The FWC, to its credit, has moved toward downlisting the manatee from its endangered listing on a state level, an action that could be persuasive toward curbing runaway federal actions.

For now, however, the planned FWS zones cover 116 river miles, not counting huge areas alongside channels where anglers could not plane their boats normally. The off-plane speeds of 5 mph or so would take five times longer to travel in than a more sensible limit of 25 mph.

The 22 river miles in the Fort Myers area could add three hours roundtrip to typical outings, making many traditional trips simply not feasible.

It's the same for the 41 river miles in Volusia County where all of the county waters would be in one kind of zone or another. The Tomoka River would be offplane year-around even though no manatee is ever seen there during most of the year. Tomoka fishermen would as a practical matter have to give up many trips.

Proposed Jacksonville zones span 41 river miles but may be easier to live with because of more transit channels. But, as with many other places, narrow channels of on-plane travel will simply pack faster-moving vessels together and cause much unhappiness at sea, not to mention downright dangerous situations, courtesy of the manatee extremists.

Of course, what makes the zones particularly distasteful is that not only are they unnecessary (see Openers column this month), there's no evidence they'll accomplish much if anything but to inconvenience boaters.

As the Manatee War rages on this and other fronts, there are continually new developments that readers can follow on floridasportsman.com and some other sources. Unfortunately, typical general media sources have been anti-boating and biased toward manatee enthusiasts who managed to obfuscate the fact that the manatee population is flourishing as never before in modern times.

Meanwhile, the FWS is laying down rules under the Marine Mammal Protection Act that many say could cripple boating all through Florida, even to the extent of stopping registration of boats because one of the suggested rules states that accidental manatee deaths must be less than one a year, a clear impossibililty in normal circumstances.

Manatee Madness already has caused marina and dock construction permit stoppages costing millions of dollars in losses, and the problems may well get much worse.

Some relief may come from a handful of legal actions under way, including one from the marine industry contending that the federal MMPA jurisdiction does not extend into "internal waters," which is where manatees live.

And yet, perhaps the best answer would be for Congress to pass legislation taming the excesses of the MMPA to bring back a semblance of reasonableness.

After all, what started out as the MMPA's clear purpose to prevent intentional killings or bothering of endangered animals has been corrupted to apply to any and all accidents.

Porter, Bob, Bill...? Will you stand up to the crazies?

In the background of the dismal sea cow protection picture, we have the recurring plain fact: The unendangered manatee population grows and grows and the boat-caused deaths remain at about the same percentage of total mortality as ever, which means the species is doing just fine.

Obviously, elected officials should step forward and stop the crawl zone and no-permit fanaticism. If they don't, the main decisions ahead will be made by virtually unknown, faraway functionaries responding only to highly paid animal rights lawyers on a mission of deception and personal profit.

Your protests can make the difference.

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