Manatee No Longer An Endangered Species (miamiherald.com)

An anonymous reader quotes the Miami Herald: The manatee -- for decades the poster mammal for environmental decline in Florida -- is officially no longer an endangered species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday that the manatee will instead be designated "threatened" -- a status change that reflects a boom in population over the last decade. In February, Florida wildlife managers released preliminary results of an annual count that recorded 6,620 manatees lumbering in the warm waters of Florida's lagoons, springs and canals... "We believe this is a devastating blow to manatees," Patrick Rose, Executive Director for Save the Manatee Club, said in a statement. "A federal reclassification at this time will seriously undermine the chances of securing the manatee's long- term survival."
It was the third consecutive year to see an increase in the estimated population of manatees.

Comments

Re:Patrick

[RobotRunAmok]

Patrick's club looks like a pretty slick operation.. Guess with the beasts no longer on the Endangered Species List he'll prolly sell a lot less Manatee Merch. Sounds like this may be a devastating blow to his income as well... Wait, you don't suppose that's why he's so upset, do you...? Nah, couldn't be...

Re:Patrick

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes.

This is why they were moved the the Threatened list and off the Endangered list.

They were not moved to the Yummy Please Eat As Many As You Want list.

Yet another reason to celebrate global warming: the manatees are saved! I never understood why the pro-cold-planet people have been trying to kill off the manatees for decades. They're harmless.

Re:"a devastating blow to manatees"

[v1]

While I'm a strong supporter for saving endangered species, there hopefully comes a point when any endangered species isn't endangered anymore. It takes time and resources to protect endangered species, and when you can call your job a success and strike one off the list as done, you do so in order to direct your resources at the next needy species. There's only so much to go around, and you need to put it where it will do the most good.

If lowering their protection now results in a significant decline, they'll get their name back on the list. But until then, there are many more in need of that assistance.

And to the gentleman that's upset about the lift and says there aren't enough of them, I ask you, how many is enough? Can you put a number on it? Do you even have a number in mind? The EPA etc have entire divisions of bean counters whose job is to run the numbers and calculate the risks when deciding where to spend their money and dedicate their resources - they're not just pulling this one out of a hat. You can count on this decision being the result of examining the numbers closely, and that beats any activist's armchair-quarterbacking on the issue.

Re: Patrick

[PoopJuggler]

Yeah because environmental protection is where the big money is.

Job Security

[Shoten]

Actual quote:
"We believe this is a devastating blow to manatees," Patrick Rose, Executive Director for Save the Manatee Club, said in a statement. "A federal reclassification at this time will seriously undermine the chances of securing the manatee's long- term survival."

Translated for clarity and accuracy:
"We believe this is a devastating blow to my career," Patrick Rose, Executive Director for Save the Manatee Club, said in a statement. "A federal reclassification at this time will seriously undermine my chances of maintaining long-term employment."