Manatee mandate - Florida - Brief Article

Sierra, May-June, 2003 by Reed McManus

Environmentalists had to collide with Interior secretary Gale Norton to get the Bush administration to make good on a pledge to keep motorboats from colliding with endangered Florida manatees. In January, a coalition of groups, including the Sierra Club's Florida Chapter, dropped its request for contempt-of-court charges against Norton after the agency unveiled specific plans to protect the beloved, slow-moving sea cows. The new rules will expand slow-speed zones in four Florida rivers and beef up law enforcement.

With Florida boat registrations soaring, manatee deaths hit a record high of 95 in 2002. Nevertheless, the motorboat industry points to relatively high numbers of Florida manatees as a reason to downgrade their state status from endangered to threatened, a decision that could be made later this year. If that happens, the manatee will retain its federal protections, but public support could weaken. "We need to stand against a very powerful boat lobby," says Helen Spivey, the Florida Chapter's manatee-issues chair. "Without proper habitat, manatees will be doomed to live out their lives in zoos."