ASK STATE AGENCY TO MAKE MANATEE MANAGEMENT PLAN STRONGER Urge Revision of Imperiled Species Listing/Delisting Rule
Hi Alan, When the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) adopted new imperiled species listing/delisting criteria, they incorporated the international criteria for "endangered," but they elected to call those species that met the endangered criteria "threatened" instead of "endangered." As a result, the FWCC voted to downlist manatees to "threatened" status. We are highly critical of this move, as are a host of other environmental organizations and eminent scientists. Now, the FWCC has drafted a Manatee Management Plan (Plan), which is the final step in the species' reclassification from "endangered" to "threatened." However, the current Plan will not ensure adequate protection for manatees and, together with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's recent recommendation to also downlist manatees at the federal level, the Plan will greatly hamper our chance of securing the manatee's future in the face of increasing human-related threats. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recommended downlisting the manatee due to political pressure. An April editorial in The Bradenton Herald said, "The declassification is not being made because the manatee has made a 'landmark' recovery, as the USFWS' field supervisor asserted. Rather, it is a concession to the boat, dock-building and development interests that have lobbied for relaxing manatee protection rules for years. In the anti-environment posture of the Bush administration facing term limits, it has finally found a friendly reception." The two greatest threats to the manatee's long-term survival are: -A growing number of boats on Florida's already dangerous waters -The probable future loss of both natural and artificial warm water habitat. Ironically, because of these threats, both the state and federal governments are projecting substantial to catastrophic decline in the manatee population unless strong new protections are implemented. WHAT YOU CAN DO: 1. Act Now! Click on the link below to send a quick and easy online letter to FWCC Executive Director Ken Haddad and Florida Governor Charlie Crist, asking them to revise Florida's imperiled species listing/delisting rule and to retain the manatee's current "endangered" status. In addition, the letter asks them to make the Manatee Management Plan much stronger. http://www.savethemanatee.org/actionalert.cfm?id=15 2.The formal comment period for the Management Plan is from May 7 - June 14. Please send the letter immediately and ask your family and friends to do the same. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP ON THIS IMPORTANT ISSUE FOR MANATEES!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You are subscribed to Save the Manatee Club's Action Alert List as [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you want to change your email address, please email us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sign Up for our free Paddle Tales E-Newsletter! Go to http://www.savethemanatee.org/enews_signup.htm Our postal address is 500 N. Maitland Ave. Maitland, Florida 32751 United States ABOUT SMC Save the Manatee Club is a nonprofit organization founded in 1981 by former Florida Governor and U.S. Senator Bob Graham and singer Jimmy Buffett. To learn more about manatees and our work, go to http://www.savethemanatee.org JOIN US! Adopt-A-Manatee and join Save the Manatee Club. Your contribution will support our work to help protect endangered manatees and their habitat. For more information, go to http://www.savethemanatee.org/adoptpag.htm PASS IT ALONG Help spread the word about manatees! Please forward this message to your family and friends. If you got this message from a friend, sign up to receive our Action Alerts at our Take Action page at http://www.savethemanatee.org/action.htm QUESTIONS? You can get updates on Action Alert issues by visiting the Take Action page of our web site. If you have additional questions, please email us at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
