Manatees Are Dying Off, and Florida Is Determined to Speed it Up

[octoberlib]

Who hates manatees? Sea cows, mermaids, whatever you want to call them—these massive, slow, people-loving warm-water swimmers are naturally adorable and devoid of natural enemies. But hundreds have died already this year, and deregulating Florida lawmakers could doom the rest today.


On the last day of its annual session, the state Legislature is expected to pass HB 999, a bill that would bar local and county governments from setting their own standards for water quality and wetlands construction—assuming those standards are higher than the state's relatively lax requirements, that is.

The proposed law would also severely limit "testing, sampling, collection, or analysis" of state waters. And it would make about two dozen existing regional water districts "exempt from further wetlands or water quality regulations." One of its key sponsors, Rep. Jimmy Patronis, is the state chairman for the conservative, pro-business American Legislative Exchange Council, and his family owns a swath of Northwest Florida that it pimps out for water-bottling and clear-cutting.

The bill could obliterate the already-threatened Florida manatee, which subsists on quickly disappearing river grasses. In fact, 582 of the burly mammals have died so far in 2013—as much as 19 percent of the entire adult population—thanks to a shrinking supply of food and the proliferation of deadly algae blooms like red tide in state waters.

http://gawker.com/manatees-are-dying-off-and-florida-is-determined-to-sp-489114098

[dipsydoodle]

1. Appalling

[ReRe]

2. Suicide..

..If you kill off these animals, you're in essence killing yourself. Only in Florida... a law that would make the manatee extinct. Does this go against Federal Law? Just wondering...

[HockeyMom]

3. If they don't care about people,

why would they about care animals? Remember the Gulf Oil Spill? Oh, yeah, it's perfectly fine to go swimming when tar balls were all washing ashore.

[newfie11]

4. Manatees first people next

What kills them will eventually get us.

[reACTIONary]

8. The existance of the human race is threatened by motor boats? (nt)

[newfie11]

9. Huh?

below is what I was referring to. If you had read a little further you would have seen it!




"The bill could obliterate the already-threatened Florida manatee, which subsists on quickly disappearing river grasses. In fact, 582 of the burly mammals have died so far in 2013—as much as 19 percent of the entire adult population—thanks to a shrinking supply of food and the proliferation of deadly algae blooms like red tide in state waters."

[reACTIONary]

10. The major cause of premature manatee death is motoboat strikes....

If the 582 that have died in 2013 does represent "as much as 19%" of the "adult" population, that means the current population is probably at least around 2,500. Probably more, accounting for the "weasel words" such as "as much as" and "adult population".

In fact according to the "Defenders of Wildlife" site "today’s population is estimated at approximately 5,000 individuals." This is up from the 2007 census that put their numbers at 2,800 of in Florida waters, up from 1,300 in the first survey, in 1991. The 2007 numbers were technically enough to take them off the "endangered" list, and move them to "threatened", which, however, was not done.

With increases over time of 1,300 -> 2,800 -> 5,000 it does not seem that the decline in river grass or deadly algae blooms is that much of a factor. Manatees are not going to be "obliterated".


http://www.defenders.org/florida-manatee/background-and-recovery
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/us/06manatees.html

[newfie11]

11. I am aware of that

But I was addressing what was in the post.

[reACTIONary]

12. So was I...

Manatees are increasing in their population, not "dying off". Their numbers have progressed over time from 1,300 to 2,800 to about 5,000 today. The depletion of river grass and deadly algae blooms does not seem to be doing them any net harm, and hasn't done humans any harm either. Quite the opposite, the depletion of river grass is due to increasing human population and greater enjoyment of a "natural environment" along FL coasts.

The doom and gloom is not (always) warranted.

[octoberlib]

15. Gawker seems to have gotten their information from the Save The Manatee Foundation

so I don't know if they're making the situation more dire than it is to bring in more donations. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has some charts on manatee deaths . Red tide seems to be a problem in Lee County.

http://myfwc.com/media/2477220/2013PreliminaryRedTide.pdf


392 manatees died in all of 2012. http://myfwc.com/media/1777172/YearToDate.pdf


582 have died so far this year. 24 from watercraft, Deaths from red tide are classified as natural and there have been 255 of those in 2013. There were only 65 deaths classified as natural in 2012.

http://myfwc.com/media/2470902/YearToDate.pdf

[reACTIONary]

16. Thanks for the update! (NT)

[secondvariety]

5. I've just about given up

on Florida. There was a time that I was rather militant about what was happening here, but as evidenced by the same destructive forces being elected and reelected over and over, apparently the majority of the electorate has no problem with the actions of the Legislature.

You can only tilt at windmills for so long.

[Fuddnik]

6. It's sad to watch.

We probably have the most corrupt legislature in the country. And to make matters worse, our Democratic Party is so inept, they can't recruit viable candidates for a lot of races. And when a good candidate does step forward, they undermine them in favor of some corporate turd.

But, what do to you expect? They just "elected" as FDP Chair, a former ChoicePoint lobbyist, whose husband was an attorney for the Bush camp in Bush v Gore.

I love going kayaking down the Anclote River and having Manatees and Dolphins swim right up to you. But, that's going to all end soon.

[secondvariety]

13. St. Petersburg

has had some decent representation. Charlie Justice left to run against Bill Young (as if anyone can win against that old mummy), Rick Kriseman left after one term because the Legislature is too dysfunctional and Dwight Dudley seems to be off to a good start. It's ironic that one of the most progressive and citizen orientated members of the Legislature is Mike Fasano- a Republican. I've never voted GOP in my life, but I'd vote for Fasano if he ran for a state wide office.

[gejohnston]

17. Citrus County

Love the kayaking and canoing. We had Teabaggers claiming that hauling ass through no wake zones in manatee areas is their "constitutional right."

[ZombieHorde]

14. So many wonderful animals are dying off, yet mosquitos continue to thrive.

There is no God.