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The Recovery Plan comment period began on November 30, 2000 and closed on January 30, 2001.  The final Recovery Plan is expected to be issued at the end of February and this page will be updated at that time.

Manatee Protectionists Alarmed by Potential Down- or De-Listing

LETTERS NEEDED TO IMPROVE PLAN TO RECOVER MANATEES

As boat collisions and habitat destruction cause the Florida manatee to sink further toward extinction, the federal government appears to be embarking on a reckless plan to reclassify (down-list, or even, de-list) the species while overlooking the various separate and cumulative factors that continue to imperil this gentle marine mammal.

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) protects the manatees¯ ecosystems and it directs the federal government (Fish and Wildlife Service FWS) to design a Recovery Plan with specific "objective, measurable criteria," and appropriate deadlines, to bring the species back to such a healthy condition that the manatees no longer need the protections of the ESA.

Instead of focusing on the specific threats facing manatees, including habitat loss and degradation, the FWS has gone out of out of its way to create a totally arbitrary, and scientifically baseless, population target number of at least 2,000 animals as sufficient for the future health of the species. However, the most critical issue in protecting endangered species is not a "count" of the number of manatees at any particular moment in time but, rather, whether the threats facing manatees are being adequately addressed, including habitat loss.

One particular "objective, measurable" criteria to recover the species that needs to be included in the Plan is site-specific needs and problems of manatee subpopulations. For example, the FWS itself has acknowledged that survival of the Atlantic Coast subpopulation is a "case for concern" because of boat collisions and other factors, but the Plan does not address the threats to adult survival. This Recovery Plan must include objective, measurable, site specific recommendations based upon the needs of subpopulations of the species.

Manatees are subject to legal, legislative and agency processes that must be crafted and coordinated to restore the health of the species. The Recovery Plan needs to include a provision for a Manatee Coordinator to focus on obtaining all the goals of these various state and Federal programs and to make agencies accountable when programs do not obtain their goals.

TAKE ACTION ì PLEASE WRITE TODAY! Letters are officially due by January 30, 2001. Address your letter to President George W. Bush, president@whitehouse.gov, and copy your letters to the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service, billy_brooks@fws.gov. Please include your name and address and remind the President that his brother, Governor Jeb Bush has called the manatee his "favorite mammal."

1. Tell the Federal Government that the manatees deserve a recovery plan that lays out objective and measurable criteria, as the law requires, and includes site-specific plans based upon the needs of all subpopulations of manatees.
2. Demand that the FWS remove any arbitrary population target numbers as a basis for recovery and also delete any suggestions that the manatee will be reclassified until the FWS makes plans to address all the factors that caused the listing of the manatee under the ESA.
3. Request that the FWS include plans for a Manatee Coordinator that will focus on obtaining all the goals of these programs and to make agencies accountable when programs do not obtain their goals.
4. Urge the FWS to commit in the Recovery Plan to update the critical habitat designation for the manatee that the FWS has conceded is incomplete and out of date.

For more information on manatees, please contact the Save the Manatee Club at SavetheManatee.org.

Wildlife Advocacy Project
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E-Mail:WildInfo@WildlifeAdvocacy.org