[Vision2020] Manatee Protections to be Cut Under Bush Plan

[Tom Hansen]

>From Yubanet.com at:

http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/printer_54497.shtml

"This change will reduce protections against the "taking" of manatees and
facilitate construction of more marinas and other development in critical
coastal habitat areas."

I smell a land development boom that would have been otherwise
confined/restricted by protected Manatee coastal habitats.

Note to Idahoans:  Enjoy our wilderness area while we have it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Manatee Protections to be Cut Under Bush Plan
Author: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
Published on Apr 10, 2007

The Florida manatee will lose its protections as a federal endangered
species under a new plan being prepared by the Bush administration,
according to an internal document released today by the Save the Manatee
Club and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

According to a March 26, 2007 briefing paper from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service (FWS) labeled "White House Report," the FWS is preparing a
recommendation to downgrade or "down-list" the manatee from its present
"endangered" status to "threatened" under the Federal Endangered Species
Act. This change will reduce protections against the "taking" of manatees
and facilitate construction of more marinas and other development in
critical coastal habitat areas.

"A federal reclassification at this time could undermine our chances of
securing the manatee's future in the face of exploding human population
growth and shrinking aquatic habitat in Florida," stated Patrick Rose, an
aquatic biologist who is Save the Manatee Club's executive director. "With
the price of coastal land skyrocketing, regulations protecting manatees are
seen as standing in the way of even more extensive development of Florida's
coastline."

Todd Willens, a newly appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior for
Fish and Wildlife and Parks, is shepherding the 5-year status review and
listing downgrade for the manatee. Prior to his appointment, Willens was
policy director for former U.S. Representative Richard Pombo, who
unsuccessfully sought legislative changes to weaken the Endangered Species
Act and was defeated in the 2006 election.

"As we enter the lame duck stretch of the Bush administration, there will be
more of these efforts to circumvent Congress by using the administrative
process to undermine the laws they cannot repeal," added PEER Executive
Director Jeff Ruch, pointing to recently exposed Bush administration plans
to weaken the Endangered Species Act by a series of regulations. "This is
another case of the scientists being run over by the combined political
weight of the Florida homebuilder, marina and recreational boating lobbies."

The 417 manatee deaths recorded in 2006 was an all-time high fatality total,
following a near-record fatality year in 2005. Conservationists are
concerned that the federal reclassification will aggravate the principal
threats to manatee survival at a very unstable period, including:

* Boating Deaths. The legal basis for boat speed restrictions, already
unevenly enforced, will be weakened by the new Bush plan. Speedboat
collisions and propeller maiming are already the major cause for manatee
deaths;

* Water Pollution, Algal Blooms and Red Tides. A new ongoing outbreak of red
tide may have already claimed the lives of scores of manatees in Southwest
Florida where researchers agree the sub-population is declining. This new
threat source will be aggravated by human population growth; and

* Habitat Loss through Development. The destruction of the manatee's aquatic
habitat to make way for new coastal development is even now proceeding at
break-neck speed.

In addition, the manatee population could experience large die-offs as aging
power plants go off-line. Power plant outfalls that serve as warm water
refuges would no longer be available, leading to the possible loss of
hundreds of wintering manatees to cold stress syndrome. Moreover, many of
the Florida springs that manatees depend upon are declining in flow. Removal
of the manatee's endangered status would likely undermine efforts to find
alternative warm water sources.

Despite all of these looming threats, which the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission (FWC) has determined could result in the loss of 50%
of the manatee population in the next 45 years, FWC is also poised to
downgrade the protected status of the manatee under state law. If the
federal government follows suit, many feel that the remaining safety net for
the manatee will have been severed.

"This reclassification comes at the worst possible time for the manatee when
record numbers are dying and threats to their long-term survival are
increasing," Rose concluded. "This move to down list manatees is politically
driven, is not legally defensible, and is certainly not motivated by concern
for the survival of the manatee."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"I love my country but fear my government."

- Author Unknown