The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recently made some important advances toward protecting imperiled species from harm—including the listing of African lions under the Endangered Species Act, upgrading captive chimpanzees to an endangered listing, and closing loopholes in the domestic ivory trade to crack down on elephant poaching.
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Unfortunately the agency has started off 2016 with an action that goes in the wrong direction, proposing to downgrade the West Indian manatee, which includes all Florida manatees, from endangered to the lesser status of threatened under the ESA. The FWS says that even with a threatened listing it would continue to implement plans for recovery of the species, and we urge it to follow through on that intent. Changing the manatee’s status to threatened, however, opens the door for the loosening of restrictions on future proposals for coastal development and other human activities that could cause harm and risk to the species. And it sends a signal to local and state decision-makers that protections are no longer needed and can be weakened.
This proposed reclassification was spurred by a property rights and boating interest group petitioning, then suing, the federal government to reduce protections for manatees. Ignoring the evidence of hundreds of manatee deaths in 2010 due to cold weather, the group objected to strict speed limits in areas where manatees congregate—in estuaries, bays, and rivers along the Florida coast.
Manatees are slow-moving animals, and in the past two years, boat strikes were one of the top two causes of death for them. Despite posted speed limits, 87 manatees were killed by watercraft in 2015 alone, with almost 400 dying in collisions over the past five years, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. It’s rare to see a manatee who doesn’t bear scars or mutilations from collisions with watercraft.
When a species makes substantial progress towards recovery, decreasing the species’ status from endangered to threatened may in some cases be supported by science, and a species designated as threatened may benefit from the flexible management scheme such listing affords. The HSUS and other groups, for example, proposed that gray wolves be designated as threatened to allow wildlife managers more opportunity to address conflicts with wolves while retaining needed federal oversight of the species’ continued recovery. But the manatee still faces many serious threats, and the downlisting is premature and risk-laden.
Warm water habitat in the manatee’s range is being lost, and the USFWS itself predicts that populations will still decline in some parts of Florida. Human activities have continued to encroach on manatee habitat, limiting their access to natural springs that provide warm water in winter. To avoid freezing, around 60 percent of Florida manatees now rely on warmer waters near power plants—most of which are slated to be closed in the next 50 years.
Cultura RM/Alamy Stock Photo
Other serious threats to manatees continue to emerge. Record-breaking cold snaps and harmful algae blooms (or red tides, which can be exacerbated by pollution) contributed to the deaths of 1,600 Florida manatees over the past three years. These toxic algal blooms don’t just poison manatees; they can also destroy their food sources. More than 47,000 acres of sea grass beds were killed off in the Indian River Lagoon alone. Water resources may also become scarce: cattle ranchers recently applied for a permit to pull 1.12 million gallons of water per day near a manatee habitat in the St. John’s River region.
Manatees are a national treasure, a major tourist draw, and an important part of the southeastern ecosystem. After four decades of federal protection, many threats still face these gentle giants swimming in Florida waters, and they have struggled to survive the damaging effects of increasing human activities. Are we so miserly as a species that we can’t slow down when boating in certain areas, or exercise some restraint on further development in manatee habitat?
As Congressman Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., said in response to this proposed rule, “Manatees have become an iconic symbol for the wilderness and beauty of Florida. They are an engine in our economy even as they are a restorative presence in our tranquil waters. We must do everything possible to protect this treasured species.”
