Manatee season about to begin as protections questioned

[Captain Obvious]

Bet they taste like chicken...

http://touch.sun-sentinel.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-81899708/


As the weather cools, manatees will start streaming into South Florida for a few months of basking in warm water, munching seagrass and trying to avoid getting hit by boats.

Manatee season officially begins Nov. 15, when seasonal boat speed limits take effect along rivers, canals and the Intracoastal Waterway. The huge marine mammals typically arrive in large numbers in late December, although one biologist says recent cold fronts could bring them here sooner.

[Polecat]

Only the fins are any good. Throw the rest back in for the alligators.

[GrassrootsConservative]

Why don't we kill two birds with one stone? Let's gather up a bunch of these elitist fatcat manatees, starve them for a couple weeks, then release them in the middle of the great pacific garbage patch.

[waltky]

Bitter Florida cold contributes to 166 manatee deaths this year...
:shocked:
Bitter Florida cold contributes to 166 manatee deaths this year, a record pace
March 10, 2018 - Bitter Fla. cold contributes to 166 manatee deaths


Florida is on pace for another cold, harsh record year for manatee deaths, according to an environmental watchdog group. Already, 166 manatees have died statewide, state statistics through March 2 show. Cold spells in January and February claimed 51 manatees statewide this year. More than 150 manatees died in just the first seven weeks of 2018, putting Florida on pace to set an annual record for manatee deaths, according to the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a nonprofit government watchdog group. “Florida’s manatees are one big freeze away from an ecological disaster and need more, not less, protection,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch.


http://www.wfaa.com/img/resize/www.gannett-cdn.com/media/2018/01/04/Brevard/Brevard/636506666649681986-Cold-manatees-10.JPG?mode=pad&width=750&height=422&scale=both&bgcolor=000000
eople came to DeSoto Park in Satellite Beach Thursday morning to view the manatees huddled together. The manatees gather in the shallow canal to stay warm during cold spells.

Boating advocates who fight against manatee go-slow zones have long pointed out that manatee deaths are only going up because of the species' population growth. Florida's annual manatee counts have more than doubled in the past 20 years, to more than 6,600 animals, according to statewide yearly aerial and ground counts. As a result, the federal government reclassified the manatee from an endangered to a threatened species, a less serious designation under the federal Endangered Species Act. But the statewide annual counts are only a minimum count of the manatee population, so there could be thousands more.


http://www.wfaa.com/img/resize/www.gannett-cdn.com/media/2017/09/15/Brevard/Brevard/636410713095400636-volunteers.jpg?mode=pad&width=750&height=422&scale=both&bgcolor=000000
Armed with a large net, volunteers prepare to haul a manatee weighing about 1,000 pounds from a backyard pond Friday morning in Melbourne.

PEER points to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission statistics covering from Jan. 1 to Feb. 23, as a bleak start to 2018 for manatees: 154 deaths in seven weeks — a death rate on pace to top last year's 538 manatee deaths and possibly the record 830 manatees deaths in 2013; The biggest factor in the spike was the 51 deaths from cold stress, almost double the 27 cold-stress deaths in all of 2017 and more than double the five-year average for this cause. In 2010, severe cold killed 282 manatees. PEER also points to concerns about this year's red tide killing manatees on Florida's Gulf Coast. Through March 2, red tide had claimed 10 manatees this year.


http://www.wfaa.com/img/resize/feed-download.akamaized.net/video/usat/8032732/8032732_Thumb.jpg?mode=pad&width=750&height=422&scale=both&bgcolor=000000

Last year, FWC identified 63 manatee deaths in which red tide was the cause or suspected cause. That compares to 53 red-tide manatee deaths in 2016, the 15 deaths in 2015 and four deaths in 2014. In 2013, a record 276 manatees died from red tide. PEER also pointed to "disturbing levels of algae" in the Indian River Lagoon, the site of devastating algal bloom outbreaks in 2016. “As the weather warms, surviving manatees may suffer toxic shock and starvation induced by Florida’s declining water quality,” Ruch said. “Florida must start doing a better job of reducing water pollution and protecting vital warm springs habitat if it expects to restore healthy manatee populations.”

http://www.wfaa.com/article/news/nation-now/bitter-florida-cold-contributes-to-166-manatee-deaths-this-year-a-record-pace/465-8436c787-f976-4e9e-98ee-e9a43a9e7ec7