US wildlife officials decide on manatee status petition

On Thursday, FWS announced that the West Indian manatee is proposed to be downlisted from endangered to threatened status under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

“We will reclassify the manatee from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act”, states the document, which is called the “Unified Agenda” and has been circulating among conservationists.

Now there are more than 6,300 in Florida alone, and the entire population is estimated at 13,000 manatees in its range which includes the Caribbean and the northern coasts of Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil.

The federal agency’s decision will remove Florida manatee’s from the endangered species list.

Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk. “The government must not downplay the severity of these threats to the manatee’s survival”.

The report state further: “We believe that a reduction in threats has resulted in an improvement in the species’ status such that the endangered designation may no longer correctly reflect the current status of manatee”.

Unlike land animals like panthers – which must have three separate populations of 240 or more to be removed from the ESA list – manatee recovery is based on eliminating or controlling threats, mostly watercraft deaths. “It’s hard to imagine the waters of Florida without them, but that was the reality we were facing before manatees were listed under the Endangered Species Act”. Manatees also are protected under another federal law for the conservation of marine mammals.

“The manatee is one of the most charismatic and instantly recognizable species”, Michael Bean, principal deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks at the U.S. Department of the Interior, said in a prepared statement. Save the Crystal River enlisted the help of PLF after manatee boating zones were proposed for Kings Bay, which would have increased driving time for boaters living in the Crystal River area.

Regulators are seeking public comment on the proposed reclassification.

The Fish and Wildlife Service will publish its proposal in the Federal Register on Friday, launching a 90-day comment period in which the public will be able to submit information that will inform the agency’s final decision.

Many Brevard County waterfront property owners, boaters, and anglers blame the effect of the increased manatee population for the Indian River Lagoon’s plight, especially when it comes to the inability of seagrass to regrow after the 2011-2012 Superbloom die off.