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Island Woman MJ
Island Expert
| Joined: | Mon Dec 25th, 2006 |
| Location: | Culebra |
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Posted: Mon Apr 9th, 2007 08:54 pm |
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 Let's see...2812 (or 3,116) maatees, and in 2002 - five years ago - Florida had 922,597 registered boats (the biggest danger to manatees, obviously)...so sure, this seems like a typical Fed possibility...(highlights are mine). Wonder who wants to develop what, where...
Feds: Manatee 'no longer meets the definition of an endangered species'
Associated Press
Posted April 9 2007, 3:52 PM EDT
MIAMI -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service might reclassify manatees as threatened instead of endangered, a move that would indicate the animal has rebounded from the brink of extinction, according to an internal memo obtained by The Washington Post.
The March 26 memo states that Florida manatees are showing signs of positive growth and adult survival rates, the Post reported in Monday editions.
The agency plans to say that the manatee ``no longer meets the definition of an endangered species,'' according to the memo, which was sent to the White House.
A phone message left by The Associated Press with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Jacksonville office on Sunday evening was not immediately returned.
Chuck Underwood, a spokesman with the agency's Jacksonville office, told the Post that the memo was drafted after a review of the marine mammals, and government officials have not made a final decision on the issue yet.
``Until it gets final signatures on it, it could change,'' Underwood said. ``It is an internal document. ... Is it the way we're going at the time? Yes. Is it also possible it could change? Yes.''
An annual census of the manatee population recorded 2,812 of the animals in Florida waters this year. Scientists counted 1,412 sea cows on the Atlantic Coast and 1,400 manatees on Florida's gulf coast.
In 1991 _ the survey's first year _ 1,267 manatees were found in the state. This past year, scientists counted 3,116. Patrick Rose, executive director of the Save the Manatee Club, told the AP on Sunday that the classification switch means development and boating restrictions that were established to make the state safer for manatees might change as well.
``This is not the time to be moving to say that they're going to be downlisting (the manatees) and then dilute the protection for them,'' Rose said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted last year to upgrade the manatee's status in the state from endangered to threatened after deeming that the species no longer meets the requirement for endangered status.
Endangered status means an animal is at a foreseeable risk of extinction. Threatened status means a species could become endangered in the future if protections are not maintained.
Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service upgraded the American crocodile's status from endangered to threatened, determining that species has also rebounded. The reptile still remains protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, making it illegal to harass, poach or kill the animals that live in South Florida, their only U.S. habitat.
Last edited on Mon Apr 9th, 2007 08:55 pm by Island Woman MJ
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admin
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Posted: Mon Apr 9th, 2007 09:01 pm |
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hey, the feds need good news, and any that they can get, and has it seems to me that everyonce in a while it seems as tho the Feds lie to cover their butts and don't answer to anyone besides the idiot currently calling himself President (you know -- under one Country and One Man thing)
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