Manatees challenged as Endangered Species Act Dries Up in Washington
Greetings to you! As you probably know, manatees are threatened by boat strikes, red tide, and a host of other challenges. And to make their lives just a bit more precarious, the current administration plans on rolling back the Endangered Species Act protections.
However, the Center for Biological Diversity moves to challenge the changes in federal court. The Center has “filed a motion challenging the administration’s decision to scrap the Endangered Species Act’s (ESA) ‘blanket rule,’ which automatically protected plants and animals listed as threatened, unless officials developed a rule specific to that species.”
The rule’s “removal is one of two related changes, both concerning Section 4 of the Act, which governs how federal agencies decide which species to list and whether they’re classified as ‘threatened’ or ‘endangered’.”
According to Elizabeth Neville, Director of Environmental Law and Policy for Save the Manatee Club, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Longwood, Florida, “The blanket rule protected threatened species from ‘take’ – legally defined as any attempt ‘to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect.’ That prohibition was the meat of the ESA.”
Neville continued and said, “It’s a bit of a common-sense mechanism in efficiency for the agency: that if a species is threatened with extinction, the baseline prohibition should be prohibition against take. Those are the common-sense protections to prevent an already imperiled species from declining further.”
According to the Interior Department, “The second change will require federal agencies to weigh economic and national security interests when designating critical habitat for a protected species, allowing areas to be excluded from that designation if that exclusion will not cause the extinction of the species.” Neville has singled out the critical habitat revision as particularly troubling, if not “flagrantly illegal.”
She said, “It makes critical habitat really vulnerable to economic considerations, when the statute requires the best available science. It’s going to put a weight on the scale in favor of economic interests over conservation.”
Under the revised rule, “if the economic costs of designating critical habitat in a given area are found to outweigh the conservation benefits, agencies will be required to exclude that area from the designation.”
Neville said, “For manatees, that raises the risk of losing the warm-water refuges and forage habitat the species depends on to survive – a loss that could carry a steep long-term cost, both ecological and economic. “Keystone species like manatees provide incredible ecosystem services. And it’s really amazing the millions and millions of tourism dollars that manatees alone bring into the state.”
To learn more about manatees, below is an awesome award-winning Kobee Manatee®book for children…
Synopsis: In late September, Kobee Manatee® is on a twelve-hundred-mile mission to get back home to Florida from Cape Cod, Massachusetts before the impending cold threatens his life. On his southbound journey, he meets two new friends: Tess the seahorse, who loves to learn, and Pablo the hermit crab, who is in search for a new shell. Will Kobee and his friends make it to Florida in time? Children learn all about manatees and their habitat!
We Have Excellent Reviews for Kobee Manatee!
“Children can learn a great deal about manatees and their habitat by reading about Kobee and his friends and their traveling adventure.” – Dr. Katie Tripp, Director of Science and Conservation, Save the Manatee Club
“This luxuriously illustrated, infectiously charming story makes us want to save the manatee and have a plush version to hug.” – Foreword Clarion Reviews
“A swimmingly fun, educational trip sure to be enjoyed by young friends of the manatee.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Kobee Manatee: Heading Home to Florida is a recipient of the prestigious Mom’s Choice Award. The Mom’s Choice Awards® (MCA) evaluates products and services created for parents and educators and is globally recognized for establishing the benchmark of excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. Using a rigorous evaluation process, entries are scored on a number of elements including production quality, design, educational value, entertainment value, originality, appeal and cost. Around the world, parents, educators, retailers and members of the media trust the MCA Honoring Excellence seal when selecting quality products and services for families and children.” – Mom’s Choice Awards
If you are in Florida and you see a sick or injured manatee, please call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at: 1-888-404-FWCC. They are the folks who are responsible for rescuing us in Florida.
Here’s the Save the Manatee Club link to learn more about manatees …
Here’s a cool link for you to learn more about how we’re rescued and brought into rehabilitation …
~ Robert Scott Thayer
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