Yay, Manatees rock.
Florida manatees, on the rebound for more than a decade, have recovered so well that federal wildlife managers said Monday they no longer merit ''endangered'' status.
The recommendation, immediately assailed by environmentalists, springs from a new analysis predicting a mixed future for the slow-moving sea cow in a fast-growing state.
Researchers expect stable -- and possibly increasing -- numbers over the next decade, but say there is a 50-50 shot at a ''significant'' decline over the next century, at least without steps to addressing the No. 1 threat.
WARM WATER
That's not boats, which kill dozens of manatees every year, but the loss of warm springs and discharges from aging coastal power plants that serve as winter havens for herds of hundreds of the cold-sensitive creatures.
Dave Hankla, field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Jacksonville, insisted that federal biologists' recommendation to drop the West Indian manatee to ''threatened'' status would not reduce speed restrictions on boats or any other protections.
It was intended to more accurately reflect what he called a ''landmark'' recovery or a mammal that has long been a symbol of environmental conflicts in Florida.
Hankla said even with predicted declines long-term, no research suggests the manatee is in imminent danger of extinction -- the definition of ``endangered.''
The minimum population estimate of 3,300 animals, evenly divided along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, is more than double the estimates from the 1970s.
The report also estimated the sea cow population in Puerto Rico from 150 to 360.
''We just believe it fits the definition of threatened better than it does endangered,'' Hankla said. ``This doesn't provide regulatory relief for anyone.''
STATE ACTION
The recommendation wasn't unexpected, following the lead of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which voted last June to bump the manatee down a peg to threatened on the state list of imperiled species.
But Hankla said it could take several months for the federal agency, tied up in other animal reviews, to decide whether to formally pursue any status change.
Environmentalists accused the service's leadership in Washington of crafting a status review favoring an influential coalition of boaters, marina operators and developers who haved campaigned against what had become a growing array of slow-speed zones and dock-building restrictions.
''What we believe is happening is they're taking the scientific information and from a politics standpoint -- they draw the lines where they want to draw the lines,'' said Pat Rose, executive director of the Save The Manatee Club.
For instance, in updating the status review, the service dropped some recovery criteria from a 2001 plan as unreliable or outdated, including a provision that required population increases in all four regional manatee populations in order to change the status.
That's key because wildlife managers acknowledge one group in Southwest Florida, home to more than 40 percent of the estimated populations, is considered in decline.
HABITAT AN ISSUE
Rose said federal population projections also weren't adequately taking into account the threat if increased coastal development and boat traffic continue to degrade habitat.
Even so, the manatee ''threats analysis'' that the U.S. Geological Survey produced for wildlife managers, predicts a strong likelihood of declines over the next century under current trends -- including a 50 percent chance that the Atlantic or Gulf coast manatee populations could drop to less than 500.
The report doesn't provide numbers, but that would be down more than 1,000 animals on either coast.
REVIEW DEFENDED
Hankla defended the review, saying it relied on ''cutting-edge'' science. And the report called on the state to address the two biggest threats to manatees -- boats and loss of warm refuges.
The report also cited the array of speed zones and other manatee measures that have been imposed across the state. Only two counties, Broward and Palm Beach, have yet to complete manatee protection plans.
Last year, the state rejected a Broward plan allowing 5,000 extra boat slips. A new draft in the works calls for fewer slips and patrols to enforce speed zones.
OFF THE LIST?
If the state addressed the remaining manatee issues, the report noted, it might be appropriate to remove the manatee from the U.S. Endangered Species list altogether and put it only under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
''The goal is to get it off the endangered species list,'' Hankla said.
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