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From: Save the Manatee Club - action [at] savethemanatee.org
Date: Jan 5, 2007 2:58 PM
Subject: Save the Manatee Club Needs Your Help!

In June 2006, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) voted to reclassify (downlist) manatees from Endangered to Threatened on the state level even though manatees are a federally Endangered species and meet the international criteria for Endangered as well. This is because the state adopted a new weaker imperiled species listing rule, even though science, public sentiment, and Save the Manatee Club, together with dozens of other environmental groups, did not support such a drastic move that will lead to the downlisting of many other species as well.

Now, the adoption of a Manatee Management Plan (Plan) is the final step in lowering the manatee’s classification on the state’s imperiled species list. The FWCC recently released a draft of their Plan and is seeking public input through January 11th. The Plan is critically deficient in protecting manatees because:

* The Plan’s Measurable Biological Goals, which FWCC claims will, “evaluate progress toward species recovery,” actually allow a 30% decline in the population over 3 generations!

* The Plan’s Management Actions (protection measures) won’t have to be any stronger than to avoid a greater than 30% decline in the population. For example, minimum flows at warm water springs that manatees use, such as Blue Spring (where many of our manatee adoptees winter), merely have to be set so that a greater than 30% decline in the population is avoided.

* Rather than manage the population to achieve an Optimum Sustainable Population level as mandated by the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), the FWCC’s Plan allows significant population loss as long as the loss is no greater than 30%.

* Since the Plan is geared toward avoiding greater than a 30% loss in the manatee population rather than managing for an Optimum Sustainable Population, it will be virtually impossible to hold the state accountable for protecting manatees from escalating human-related threats such as watercraft strikes, loss of warm-water habitat, and destruction of habitat associated with development and climate change.

* The state itself believes that the manatee is already at a very high risk of extinction.

Once the public comment period is over, a revised draft Plan will be put on the agenda for final approval at the FWCC’s April or June 2007 meeting. When the Plan is approved, the manatee’s classification will change from Endangered to Threatened.

What You Can Do:

Please contact the FWCC today and tell them the following:

* You strongly OPPOSE the Plan being kept on the fast track, especially since the Plan does not adequately protect manatees and their winter warm-water habitats.

* You strongly OPPOSE a Plan that allows for population decline NOT growth.

* A 30% decline in the manatee population is illegal and could lead to the manatee’s demise.

* You are outraged that the state would sanction such a catastrophic loss in the manatee population and then pass it off as “progress toward species recovery.”

Comments are due by 5 p.m. on January 11 and should be e-mailed to: manatee_plan [at] MyFWC.com.

Please also e-mail your comments to Florida’s new governor, Charlie Crist. Also, request that he use his influence to halt any species’ downlistings until FWCC’s listing/delisting process can be reviewed and properly revised. His e-mail address is charlie.crist [at] myflorida.com. His phone number is 850-488-7146.

Read the draft Manatee Management Plan

Get more background on the manatee’s downlisting

Thank you for your help on this important issue for manatees!

Sign up for our free Paddle Tales E-Newsletter: Go to 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 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 www.savethemanatee.org/adoptpag.htm

Pass It Along

Help spread the word about manatees! Please forward this action alert 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 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, email us at action [at] savethemanatee.org

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