Based on junk science the state and FEDERAL government is trying to restrict growth and deny citizens access to the waters of Florida.
Four years ago, the Save the Manatee Club along with 18 other environmental orginizations sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Department of the Interior , The US Army Corps of Engineers, and the State of Florida's Department of environmental Protection. In those lawsuits the environmentalists claimed the defendants were not doing enough to protect the manatee. Then the lawsuit were settled and regulations were imposed without any input from the citizens. The settlement precluded any chance of an appeal. Measures such as restrictions on constructing new docks, limited or forbidden access to water areas, speed restrictions and usage permits are the tools no-growth and no access environmentalists employ.
Environmentalists claimed the manatee is an endangered species and demanded large areas of Florida's waterways must be made off limits to boaters. "Boater's are only a small part of the problem but they are the easiest part of the problem to control" said Kip Frohlich, the State's manatee expert. In fact, boaters only account for a small percentage of manatee deaths, but the government isn't going to allow these facts to enter into their plan. The Coastal Conservation Association petitioned the state to reexamine their findings. the results of that reexamination show the data initially used may have been "interperted'incorrectly. Florida awaits a final decision. In the mean time the US Fish and Wildlife Service has stepped in with regulations of their own. All this, in the name of manatee protection, but it is really a no-growth no-access approach to conservation imposed by self-serving environmental interests.
It all started with the United Nations in 1968 and their attempt to control water pollution.
Here is the UN goal as it appears on the United Nation's Caribbean Environmental Program Website today:
"Programmes of environmental education are an integral portion of a conservation programme and should be immediately implemented in areas where manatees occur. The public at all levels must understand the immediate and long-term benefits of species and habitat conservation. By stimulating appreciation and pride on the species, it may be possible to induce the development of a conservation philosophy, and achieve the goal of resource preservation. By being a high-profile species, the manatee may function as a catalyst in bringing together interested governmental and non-governmental agencies to elaborate comprehensive conservation plans. Manatees may be instrumental as well in the establishment of sanctuaries and attainment of the overall goal of preservation of coastal ecosystems with all their associated species."
Read it yourself, it's at the end of the first section http://www.cep.unep.org/pubs/techreports/tr35en/chapter3.html
But the report also says:
Strategy for the Development of the Caribbean Environment Programme GOAL, PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES
The long-term goal of the Caribbean Environment Programme is to achieve sustainable development of marine and coastal resources in the Wider Caribbean Region through effective integrated management that allows for increased economic growth.
Ensuring Public Participation : The Programme promotes active participation of all sectors of society in the management of marine and coastal resources at the community, national and regional levels.
Encouraging Policy-Oriented Research : The Programme encourages basic and applied research that supports environmental policy needs and decision-making and makes policy-makers aware of existing scientific knowledge.
Exchange of Relevant Information : The Programme accesses national, regional and international sources of information; sorts, organizes and distributes relevant information to the region's users on a timely basis; assists in the strengthening of information management capabilities of environmental agencies; and increases communication among the principal actors in the region's environmental management efforts.
This is the government's idea of a takeover. The have ignored the part about "integrated management that allows for increased economic growth."
There is no participation of all sectors of society , policy makers are not made aware of existing scientific knowledge
And relevant information is not being distributed on a timely basis.
This issue isn't about manatees, it's about an overly-liberal federal plan for NO GROWTH and NO ACCESS
No wonder Florida's boaters are UP IN ARMS
No one wants to hurt the manatee, but there is a lot of selectively applied science in this issue and a lot of flat-out misrepresentations.
Look at the maps of regulated areas