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Florida Manatee Management and Policy
Defenders lobbies in Washington, DC, and Tallahassee, Florida, defending the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act. We have also worked as members of the Florida Manatee Recovery Team to help shape the new tasks necessary for manatee recovery in the wild.
Settlement Leads to Additional Protection Measures
Defenders was a lead plaintiff in federal lawsuits against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission that resulted in a landmark settlement requiring many additional protection measures for manatees, including refuge and sanctuary areas and state speed zones.
The settlement also resulted in a first ever attempt to write a regulation under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) regarding the “incidental take” of manatees from watercraft operation and marina development. USGS population biologist Michael C. Runge developed a scientific model to determine how many manatees could be legally taken through these activities. The conclusion was that the taking of even a single manatee could not be authorized.
Fish and Wildlife Service Recommends Reclassifying Manatees as “Threatened”
In April 2007, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) announced the results of a five-year status review of the West Indian manatee and concluded that, despite a USGS report that predicts long-term decline in Florida’s manatee population, the species no longer fit the definition of endangered.
According to the report, the statewide population is now stable and is expected to continue to be so for the next 10-15 years. However, with anticipated changes in manatee habitat (especially loss of warm water in the winter) the long-term trend will be one of significant decline over the next 50-100 years.
Even more alarming is the report’s conclusion that there is an 8.6% chance that manatees on either coast will reach “quasi-extinction” levels in the next 100 years. Even with these predicted declines, USFWS determined that manatees do not meet the Endangered Species Act definition of endangered: “In danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.”
Defenders of Wildlife and our coalition colleagues strongly disagree with how this science is being interpreted by FWS to make policy decisions. The current declines in Southwest Florida coupled with predicted long-term, statewide declines, further underscored by risk of extinction, firmly demonstrates that downlisting is unwarranted, short-sighted and indefensible. At this time, the FWS has not taken final action on their 2007 staff recommendation to downlist manatees. Defenders will continue to monitor the situation and be ready to take action if the FWS moves forward to downlist.
Manatee Critical Habitat Revision
In December 2008, Defenders signed a petition to the FWS to make long-needed revisions to critical habitat designations for Florida manatees. In January 2010, the FWS finally agreed that the petition to revise manatee critical habitat was indeed warranted, based on the abundance of new scientific information collected since the original designation in 1976.
Unfortunately, the FWS also said, “sufficient funds are not available due to higher priority actions such as listing-related actions pursuant to court orders and judicially-approved settlement agreements. We intend to undertake rulemaking to revise critical habitat for the Florida manatee when funding and staff resources become available.” This “good news-bad news” response is frustrating, but Defenders will stay involved in order to ensure that manatees receive the proper level of protection according to the law.
Read the Florida manatee critical habitat petition
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