Jolie Rouge
04-30-2003, 01:36 PM
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1110&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20030430%2F160172295.htm&sc=1110
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) - A federal report warns that manatees in Florida face extinction if regulators don't crack down on boaters.
A record 95 were killed last year by boats and personal watercraft, compared with an average of 80 each of the previous three years. The average number of deaths annually from 1992 to 1998 was 49, state data show. The last statewide count in January put the total number of manatees at about 3,000.
If the boat mortality rate continues to increase at the pace it has since 1992, the report's author said, there won't be enough manatees within 100 years to sustain their population. The manatee, already listed as an endangered species by the state and federal governments, also faces population losses from its slow reproductive rate.
``The situation in the Atlantic and Southwest regions is dire,'' said Michael Runge of the federal Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland.
The Patuxent report is an addendum to protection plans being hammered out by federal officials. Spurred by a lawsuit filed by manatee advocates, regulators plan to issue a new set of safeguards Monday.
Regulators, wildlife activists and boating rights proponents have haggled for years over boosting protections for manatees.
``If you want to save the manatee, you have got to bring that watercraft-related mortality under control,'' said Eric Glitzenstein, a Washington, D.C. attorney who led the legal action for manatee activists. ``If not, it's a prescription for disaster.''
Boating groups argue regulators would be better off addressing natural factors that kill manatees, such as cold stress or sporadic episodes of red tide, an algae that produces toxins fatal to many species. Red tide is blamed for at least 60 manatee deaths off southwest Florida in the past two months.
``No matter what, though, they want to put all the manatee mortality on the backs of boaters,'' said John Kinney, vice president of Standing Watch, a boating advocacy group.
04/30/03 16:01
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) - A federal report warns that manatees in Florida face extinction if regulators don't crack down on boaters.
A record 95 were killed last year by boats and personal watercraft, compared with an average of 80 each of the previous three years. The average number of deaths annually from 1992 to 1998 was 49, state data show. The last statewide count in January put the total number of manatees at about 3,000.
If the boat mortality rate continues to increase at the pace it has since 1992, the report's author said, there won't be enough manatees within 100 years to sustain their population. The manatee, already listed as an endangered species by the state and federal governments, also faces population losses from its slow reproductive rate.
``The situation in the Atlantic and Southwest regions is dire,'' said Michael Runge of the federal Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland.
The Patuxent report is an addendum to protection plans being hammered out by federal officials. Spurred by a lawsuit filed by manatee advocates, regulators plan to issue a new set of safeguards Monday.
Regulators, wildlife activists and boating rights proponents have haggled for years over boosting protections for manatees.
``If you want to save the manatee, you have got to bring that watercraft-related mortality under control,'' said Eric Glitzenstein, a Washington, D.C. attorney who led the legal action for manatee activists. ``If not, it's a prescription for disaster.''
Boating groups argue regulators would be better off addressing natural factors that kill manatees, such as cold stress or sporadic episodes of red tide, an algae that produces toxins fatal to many species. Red tide is blamed for at least 60 manatee deaths off southwest Florida in the past two months.
``No matter what, though, they want to put all the manatee mortality on the backs of boaters,'' said John Kinney, vice president of Standing Watch, a boating advocacy group.
04/30/03 16:01