Red Tide, boats take a grim toll (on manatees)

[DoYouEverWonder]

January 7, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Last year was the second-worst in recorded history for Florida's manatees, with 396 dying from a variety of causes, state wildlife officials announced Friday.

At least 81 died from Red Tide, while 80 were killed by boats - an increase in watercraft-related deaths after two years in which the number dropped.

In a rare show of agreement, a leading manatee advocate and a leading boating industry spokesman blamed the increase on a lack of enforcement and suggested it might be due to Hurricane Katrina.

The state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission dispatched more than 100 law enforcement officers to help battered Louisiana and Mississippi last August. That pulled them from their regular duties of ticketing speeding boaters, catching poachers and enforcing fishing rules, said John Sprague of the Marine Industries Association of Florida.

"There was definitely a loss of law enforcement on the water," Sprague said.

The spike in manatee deaths comes as state and federal officials are reconsidering whether manatees deserve to be classified as endangered, a status that gives them legal protection.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/07/State/Red_Tide__boats_take_.shtml

[rodeodance]

1. the utter stupidity and carelessness of people in boats!--some may

be accidents I agree, but-----

[nashville_brook]

8. not the boats (well it is) but the problem is developers

and SEA fucking DOOs.

little anger there. i hate those water-bikes b/c they are used in residential shallows where the manatee hang out. it was hard enough to get people to honor the 5 mph limits when we were just talking about boats coming in and out of harbor. blunt trauma from a seadoo is a slow, miserable death for a manatee.

[nashville_brook]

2. my manatee rant

http://johnsoncity.blogspot.com/2005/04/extinction-signals-end-times.html
here's an old post i wrote about the manatee downgrading. there are action items at the bottom for donations, petitions, etc.

Extinction Signals End Times

Just got back from Florida. It was one of those: "unemployed + stuck = roadtrip." Fueled on Fresca and Fig Newtons, I got to Melbourne Beach around 9 a.m., just in time to see a school of squid surrounded by pods of leaping dolphin. The morning sun reflected on the water like diamonds while a giant turtle peaked it's head up from the small surf. This might sound storybook to if you didn't grow up here. I expect such moments, feeling vaguely abandoned if I don't get one on my infrequent sojourns.

It's a classic Floridian interlude. Welcoming and ephemeral. The dolphin feed for only a few minutes longer. Later I would see a family of manatee playing in a lagoon. We called them to our kayaks and they offered their bellies for petting just like my dogs.

By coincidence, the local newspaper that day had announced the "downgrading" of much of Florida's wildlife including the manatee from "endangered" to "threatened."


Great news because everyone needs these experiences. There is no Santa Claus, Mickey or Pluto. Manatee and dolphin are real. You can touch them. Children taken out to meet these gentle giants are suddenly angels -- no sand throwing or temper tantrums.

We crave communion with the natural world. We vacation to heal the wounds our soul suffers as we participate in our economic lives -- largely involved in pursuit of money over nature. We approach Her with guilt and are humbled by her forgiveness.

I don't think I'm alone on this, but I think if there is a God, there is no other explanation for these creatures but to TEST our worthiness before Him (or Her -- yeah, go ahead with the hippie cracks -- but I perceive the feminine especially in nature).

The End of the World narrative works in terms of a vengeful God who would smite us for destroying His creation. But you don't have to believe in a God with a personality to accept this. It works for non-believers. Destroying these animals could trigger a series of ecological events we can't predict. We know this is the case with less impressive, "indicator" species like salamanders and Spotted Owls. Probably due to watching too much Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom as a kid, I believe there can be NO DOWNSIDE to protecting these animals.

But they are no longer endangered says the newspaper. Don't we deserve a big pat on the back?

Well, no. Victory is snatched from us once again. And would you be surprised to know there's a Bush planted smack in the middle of this dirt?

Nothing has changed in the population of these creatures but plenty has changed since Jeb took office. In Florida, wealth and power are measured in acres -- and it's ALL FOR GRABS. Jeb is working overtime to attract McMansion developers and he's piquing their interest in waterfront property by offering our coastal heritage in exchange. He is essentially, offering up Mother Nature's virginity in exchange for campaign funds.



(read This Vanishing Eden by Thomas Barbour if you can find a copy. My great-grandfather Frank Carlisle was his guide.)

Manatee numbers continue to decline thanks to blunt trauma from careless Sea Dooer's and boaters. Lowering the status of these creatures will allow developers to build waterfront with NO SPEED LIMIT in the canals. We want their habitat and we want it unhindered by silly speed limits. Developers demand that their clients be able to haul ass with their Sea Doos over any great creature without so much as a second thought. Think about the last time you were on the waterfront enjoying a nice quiet day in the sun. Now, imagine that gang of water motorcyclists ripping and jumping on wake right where you are sitting. You are sitting on the deck of a nice waterfront restaurant sharing you anniversary and all you hear is the insatiable whirr and grind of watercraft.

Why have speed limits on roads? Or stop lights, for crying out loud. I'm sure there's plenty of SUV drivers who could get to Walmart much faster if they could just mow over pedestrians in their way. It's the same thing. It's the pedestrian's own damn fault for not being in a car, or a nice safe SUV with plenty of cup holders. These animals are simply pedestrians trying to get home in time for dinner. Do you mow down stray dogs on your way home from work feeling good about your ability to do so without restriction?

I'll answer that. No. That would be devastating after a shitty day at work. Hit the side of a manatee with your Sea Doo and you are likely to break a rib, puncturing their lung and you won't even know it. You might feel a bump. You might crash your Sea Doo. But you won't know why. They die slowly, suffocating on the bottom of the lagoon where no one sees. If you hit a mother, her baby will die as well since they rarely find adoptive parents. It takes a baby manatee years to learn their survival skills -- migration patterns and language -- just like humans. Imagine your child orphaned in the woods when she's three. Just old enough to be mobile, but not much else.

My first thought is, why shit where you eat? Why wouldn't developers USE the protection of the environment, as attractions for their cheap-ass Cult-De-Sacs. What they lack in quality craftsmanship (and believe me, we're talking "cracker boxes") they can provide with the flick of a pen by providing Human/Animal Preserves. Why not? If Florida can give us the freaking Truman Show nightmare in the real postmodern-manufactured-utopia of Seaside. "Why buy a house when you can have your own little slice of PARADISE." Fuck, I'd live there. Deed restricted? fuck that. Nature restricted! Sea Doos and speed boats fucking prohibited. Sailboats, canoes and dinghies PROVIDED.

People who pay the money to live waterfront, shouldn't they be MORE interested in preserving it? I wouldn't want to live where mowing over children is sanctioned. When I live somewhere, I get attached to my neighbors. I still visit "neighbors" 30 years later. Am I off-base for considering the creatures who frequent my dock to be my "neighbors" as well? I would be devastated to find out someone bumped-off a manatee in my harbor. I would probably have them all named. I would know who is frisky and who is demure. The more I think about it, the more absurd it gets. They want to whaaaa?


Obviously "neighbors" aren't writing the rules anymore. Developers are. And developers aren't people; they are corporations with their own survival instinct. As a civilization, isn't it our responsibility to reign in our creations so they don't harm us?

Taking the manatee off the endangered list means certain extinction for the animal by opening habitat to essentially unregulated development.

Think for a minute about a coast without dolphin, manatee and turtles. What's left? The beach? Take another look. The hurricanes have wrecked havoc on the east coast. The beaches are eroding at an alarming pace and the politicians have taken the cheap way out, which is guarantees to quicken the problem instead of fixing it. Without a beach what's left? McDonalds? Strip joints. T-shirt Palaces. They can't afford to lose the manatee, or even their beaches, but they won't stand up to their creations -- the development corporations. It's like the Matrix. We have lost the war against our "machines," our corporations. We serve them now.


"People" acting rationally wouldn't do such a thing. Corporations acting without human intervention do these sorts of things because they are dumb, inanimate objects. A corporation can't rejoice at a leaping dolphin or be healed by the touch of a manatee. It is our job as stewards to tame these wild beasts. They are our creations. We owe it to our Creator to protect Her creations from ours. I believe any God would judge us according to our stewardship. "So, you want into heaven? How can we trust that you wouldn't spray paint the pearly gates with your logo?"


If we sacrifice these animals on the altar of sleazy, deed-restricted gated communities, then we deserve everything Mother Nature or a vengeful God has to throw at us. When volcanos spew menstrual blood and Avril Lavigne's face forms in ash to recite the Good Will Hunting screenplay, the sentient razors boring into your flesh will carve the images of every animal driven to extinction by your inaction.


The beaches and the wild animals are the Truffala Trees Dr. Suess spoke of in The Lorax (he kinda looks like a manatee, doesn't he?). They are the "real" resources. Folk might travel to Florida the first time to see the Magic Kingdom -- but you go there for the rest of your life because Great Blue Heron sit in the tree in your backyard.


Seeing a manatee up close and personal is the kind of experience that speaks for itself. In the mountains we have lots of "indicator" species on the endangered list -- salamanders -- it's not easy to get folks excited about saving a salamander. But put a manatee in front of these same people...this big water dog that will come when called and shows it's belly for scratching...sheesh! There's an animal with charisma!



I don't know how it's all going to pan out. No one does. What to do?

There's a few things.

<a href="http://www.savethemanatee.org/petition.htm">Sign the damn petition:</a> Eschew the theme parks this year. Take a morning (or an afternoon for the late sleepers) -- and get in a kayak and see these guys before they are gone. Eco-tourism is not native to Florida, but there are some great, easy trips to take. <a href="http://www.cocoabeachkayaking.com">Cocoa Beach Kayaking</a> is one I'm familiar with. Give a few bucks to <a href="http://savethemanatee.org/">Jimmy Buffet's Save The Manatee organization</a>. Buy a tshirt. Spread the word.

And even if the world turns just fine without the manatee? Something tells me that would be worse than the punishment of a pissed-off God.

_____________________________

[1monster]

4. I'm watching the northeast Florida coastal region disappear on a daily

basis. There is always something in the newspaper about a big developer from somewhere else buying up acres and acres of land and then appearing before the Planning and Zoning Board with a request for a Planned Urban Development or a Development of Regional Impact change in the Comprehensive Plan.

The PZA sometimes turns down these requests for developments of two thousand to seven thousand new homes (single family dwellings as well as multifamily dwellings).

When that happens, the developers simply apply to the County Board of Commissioners who, with one exception, have never seen a development they didn't like and approve.

Every time a new development gets started, the developers clear cut (despite tree ordinances which apparently are not enforced or have no teeth) everything in the path of their development and thousands upon thousands of Florida wildlife lose their habitats.

One of the saddest sights I've ever seen was when a local hospital decided to expand into what was literally a natural rookery. White Herons, Blue Herons, Wood Storks, Great White Egrets, Cow Egrets, and many other birds lived and bred in the area that was cleared. Every day, I drove past there and watched as the birds clung to the fewer and fewer trees left standing. One day they were all gone and the last trees were cleared for a water retention pond. They later planted a few whispy trees around the pond, but the damage was done and it is permanent.

There isn't going to be a green spot left in Florida before too much longer...

Joni Mitchell warned us thirty-odd years ago: "They took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum. Now they charge the people a dollar and a half just to seem..."

[nashville_brook]

6. when i was in the third grade in leesburg, florida

we had to write poems and i wrote one about the environment... this would have been 1972... and used a line from a soft drink commerical about "paying to see the sky."

the class thought it was the funniest line they'd ever heard. absurd funny. driving thru central florida, it isn't absurd anymore except instead of sky, it's land.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. The entire west coast of FL

had red tide this summer. I don't remember ever seeing red tide at Cedar Key or anywhere north of there.

The greedy pig developers and repugs like Jeb just don't get it. They never go out of their protective bubble of AC and comfort to find the real Florida. Thanks for the post.

BTW: You mention Thomas Barbour. I will have to find that book. The man who originally owned my property was a good friend of his, JC Dickerson from the UF. There is a picture of a turtle in the bottom of my pool that Barbour and Archie Carr discovered in the Swannee River.


Here's some pics from my backyard:

[nashville_brook]

7. wow! i've never met anyone who knew who that was!

there's a road in melbourne called Thomas Barbour Blvd (at least there was when i was in high school).

i have two copies of the book. one has notes my grandmother made in the margins. there's a story in it about how her father was killed by an alligator.

[HuffleClaw]

3. they could TAG manatees!

with little yield signs. think 'baby on board'. like those.