Crist urges delay on manatee decision

Wildlife officials should hold off before deciding whether to downgrade the manatee's status from endangered to threatened, Gov. Charlie Crist said Tuesday. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had been scheduled to take up the issue Wednesday, but its chairman said he agrees with Crist and will also recommend that the panel push the decision back.In a letter sent Tuesday to commission chairman Rodney Barreto, Crist said a better way to count manatees needs to be found before such a decision can be made. He notes what officials say was a record number of manatee deaths — 417 — in 2006.And Crist noted that several members of the commission are just beginning their terms and coming up to speed on the question of the health of manatee populations — something the state has been wrestling with for more than a decade."The Florida Manatee is one of our state's beloved natural resources," Crist said in the letter. "You and your staff have worked diligently for several years to resolve the controversy over the imperiled status of this gentle giant. I am confident that by postponing this action you will help the new commission better ensure the long-term survival and recovery of the Florida Manatee."Commission spokesman Henry Cabbage said Barreto would recommend that the panel delay its decision by an unspecified amount of time.Two commissioners, Kenneth Wright and Ronald Bergeron, will attend their first meeting as members of the panel Wednesday, and Dwight Stephenson will be at his second, Cabbage said. Another commissioner, Brian Yablonski, won't be at the meeting in St. Petersburg, further making it logical to wait, Cabbage said.The commission is still likely to listen to public comments on the question, however, Barreto said in a statement released by his office.Reclassification of a species from endangered to threatened doesn't mean much change in protections enjoyed by the species — and the manatee continues to have federal endangered status.But downlisting the manatee could send the message to those who want to weaken some protection laws that it's OK to do that, because it appears that the manatee is doing much better, said Pat Rose, an aquatic biologist with Save the Manatee Club.It also could hurt advocates' efforts to push for additional protections, making it difficult to convince local officials to create new protection areas, for example, because the change in status would send the message that such measures aren't needed, Rose said.The biggest problems for manatees are boats, which sometimes strike and kill them or cut them with their propellers, and the loss of warm water habitats and springs where the manatees thrive.An annual census of manatees found 2,812 in Florida waters this year, up dramatically from the 1,267 that were counted in the first survey in 1991. The increase in population is the reason officials are considering changing its status. But the method for counting manatees has always been controversial, and its results questioned.